Sidste Nyt fra Albanien, Kosóva og Makedonien

Serbien og Montenegro


The Latest News from Albania, Kosóva and Macedonia



# 262 - 10.06.2005 Udgiver: Bjørn Andersen

Publisher: Bjoern Andersen





Gazeta Shqiptare om fodboldkampen Danmark-Albanien 8.6.2005. Avisen skriver at Danskerne dominerede kampen fuldstændig, mens en Dansk kommentator kunne skrive at deres spil var: Net, uden at være prangende ...



»Sidste Nyt om Albanien, Kosóva og Makedonien« hører til et web-site om de Balkan-lande hvor der lever mange Albanere: http://bjoerna.dk/albanerne.htm; her kan du også finde »gamle nyheder«, anmeldelser, links og en Balkan Brevkasse. »Sidste Nyt« sættes på nettet hver torsdag aften / fredag morgen hvor der sendes besked til dem der ønsker det. Bestilling / afbestilling sker ved at sende en e-mail med teksten »Nyheder udbedes« / »Nyheder afmeldes«. Nyheder, materiale, kommentarer og spørgsmål modtages meget gerne, både om småting og større ting. Send en e-mail. Tilsvarende hvis du opdager en fejl. Fejl vil blive rettet hurtigst muligt. »Sidste Nyt« og http://bjoerna.dk/albanerne.htm drives non-profit og uden finansiering »udefra«. Hvis du vil støtte udgivelsen kan du lettest gøre det ved at købe én eller flere af mine bøger. Send gerne en mail hvis der er - små eller store - tekniske problemer. Bemærkninger om EDB-sikkerhed.




The framework of The Latest News from Albania, Kosóva and Macedonia is in Danish - nevertheless, the news are mostly in English. You may send information, comments and questions to: »The Latest News« [please click].




Indholdsfortegnelse   Contents


Ugeoversigt   Summary


Internationale organisationer   International organizations
FN   UN
Verdensbanken, IMF m.fl.   World Bank, IMF etc.
OSCE, Europarådet   OSCE, Council of Europe (CoE)
EU   European Union (EU)
NATO   NATO
ICTY - Tribunalet i Haag   ICTY


Balkan, generelt   The Balkans
Kosóva   Kosóva [Kosovo]
Øst Kosóva / Presevo-dalen / Syd-Serbien   Eastern Kosóva
Albanien   Albania
Serbien og Montenegro. Serbien (alene)   Serbia-Montenegro. Serbia
Montenegro (alene)   Montenegro
Makedonien   Macedonia [FYRoM]


Grækenland   Greece
Tyrkiet   Turkey
Italien   Italia


USA   United States (US)
England   England
Tyskland   Germany
Frankrig   France
Danmark (Norge, Sverige)   Denmark (Norway, Sweden)


Rusland   Russia
Kina   China


Fodbold (FIFA's rangorden)   Football (FIFA)



»Albansk Almanak 2003« bd. 1-3

Almanak'en for 2003 er udkommet. Her finder du årets nyhedsbreve. Årets litteraturkommentarer vil udkomme hen over sommeren 2005 i »Albanske Studier« ## 3-4.

Bogen findes i trykt form og på CD (som pdf-fil). Papirudgave på 800 sider i 3 bind. Bogen sælges som papirudgave m/ CD og som CD alene. Se pris på: Bestillingsliste.

Udgaven for 2004 ventes at udkomme medio 2005.



»Albanske Studier« bd. 1-2

Kommentarer til Bjøl, Huntington, Machiavelli, Sørlander, DUPI (Humanitær Intervention), Clausewitz, Mao Zedong, Lars R. Møller, Malcolm og flere andre (kommentarerne er suppleret ift udgaver i Almanak'erne m.v.). Englændere på rejse i Albanien: Edward Lear, Edith Durham og Robert Carver. Bøger om slægtsfejder og blodhævn. Diskussion af Anne Knudsen's disputats om blodhævn på Korsika og af Ismail Kadare's roman »Ufuldendt april«. Baggrundsmateriale om den Sønderjyske general Christian von Holstein, der deltog i Habsburgernes felttog ind i Kosóva i 1689-90. Sidst i bogen et forsøg på en sammenfatning i form af nogle 'grundlæggende synspunkter'. Desuden en kommentar til Hans Hækkerup's »På skansen«. På CD'en supplerende materiale om traditionelle Albanske klædedragter og om Holstein.

Du kan downloade indholdsfortegnelsen og kommentaren til Hækkerup fra: http://bjoerna.dk/albansk-historie/studier-2002.htm

Bogen findes i trykt form og på CD (som pdf-fil). Papirudgave 368 A4-sider i 2 bind. Bogen sælges som papirudgave m/ CD og som CD alene. Se pris på: Bestillingsliste.


Til dig der kigger på et ældre nummer af »Sidste Nyt«.

Seneste udgave af denne »annonce« kan ses på:

»Sidste Nyt« (klik)



Seneste 4 udgaver af »Sidste Nyt fra Albanien, Kosóva og Makedonien«:

Sidste Nyt #261 - frem til 03.06.2005 (klik tv.)
Sidste Nyt #260 - frem til 27.05.2005 (klik tv.)
Sidste Nyt #259 - frem til 20.05.2005 (klik tv.)
Sidste Nyt #258 - frem til 13.05.2005 (klik tv.)


Urolighederne i Kosovo / Kosóva marts 2004: Sidste Nyt #206 (klik tv.)

Sagen mod Slobodan Milosevic: (1) Retsmødet 5.7.2004. Udsættelser osv. Links & materiale: Om udskrift af anklageskrifter og retsbøger   |   (2) Milosevic' indledende forsvarstale; tildeling af Forsvarsadvokater   |   (3) Afhøring af de første af Forsvarets Vidner. Sagen udsættes til 12.10.2004. Skriftlig begrundelse for at tildele Milosevic Forsvarsadvokater   |   (4) Forsvarernes appel (29.9.2004; som pdf); (5) Appelafgørelsen der - i høj grad - gav Milosevic medhold (1.11.2004; som pdf); (6) Afhøring af Professor Mihajlo Markovic (Nov. 2004)


Sagen mod Fatmir Limaj m.fl.: Se under: ICTY.


Alle årets udgaver: http://bjoerna.dk/nyt-oversigt.htm




UGEOVERSIGT (resumé)


ICTY: Sagen mod Ramush Haradinaj. ICTY har besluttet midlertidigt at løslade Haradinaj.

Albanien: Forfatteren Ismail Kadare har fået en fornem litteraturpris.

Det forestående valg. Præsidenten har haft møde med Anklagemyndigheden.

PM Nano har fortsat sin rundrejse til de forskellige valgkredse. Senest har han bl.a. været i Shkodra.

Gallup. Der har været noget uro om hvor vidt der består et samarbejde mellem Gallup og Mjaft om at lave valgprognoser. Mjaft forklarer at der er nogen der har misforstået hvad der er blevet fortalt. Der er to Gallup-foretagender; MJAFT har et samarbejde med det ene af dem, Gallup International.

ODIHR / OSCE har udsendt en første rapport i anledning af valget. Her følger indledende resumé (resten i selve nyhedsbrevet)

• On 3 July 2005, Albanian voters will elect the 140 members of the Assembly. The Constitution of Albania provides that one hundred of them are elected directly in single mandate election zones and 40 are elected from party or coalition lists. This complex system appears to have allowed some of the parties to develop informal alliances to maximise the number of mandates they might receive. Such strategies could reduce the effectiveness of the election system in meeting the Constitutional objective to inject a degree of proportionality into the election system.

• The election will be held under the Electoral Code adopted in 2003 and amended in 2004 and 2005. The election legislation can provide an adequate basis for a democratic election. However, the extent to which the law will have a positive effect on the process will ultimately depend on the degree of political commitment - first and foremost of State institutions and political parties - to conduct democratic elections and uphold the law.

• The Central Election Commission (CEC) is holding frequent sessions, in general transparently and collegially. However, discussions were often protracted and the CEC has faced delays in adopting instructions necessary for regulating the electoral process. Some parties, notably the Democratic Party, have unduly delayed the nomination of some members to Zone Election Commissions (ZECs). Consequently, not all of the 100 ZECs were operational by the end of May.

• Voter Lists remain a contentious issue. While some of the concerns expressed by interlocutors regard what are essentially administrative errors, others involve family members split between two voting areas, omissions, possible multiple entries and a sizeable number of citizens whose residence could not be verified.

• Currently, 57 parties are registered to contest the election. The campaign is already well underway and many campaign events have taken place, with Socialist Party (SP) and Democratic Party (DP) campaigns being the most visible. The emergence of new parties may further broaden the voters’ choice.

• The media have covered many campaign events. Preliminary monitoring results indicate that the media covered the campaign activities of the SP and DP to the near exclusion of other parties. The tone of the coverage in the electronic media monitored by the Election Observation Mission has thus far been generally measured.

Rapport fra OSCE's Missionschef om alle OSCE-aktiviteter i Albanien optrykkes.

Fodbold: 3-1. Net, uden at være prangende. Resultatet var godt set med Danske øjne: En sejr på 3-1, - fremragende var det ikke, måske lovende?; fodbold til et pænt ni-tal. Danskerne satte sig grundigt i respekt da den nye boxspiller Søren Larsen scorede inden der var gået 5 minutter. Ham skal vi nok blive glade for. Han var dygtig til at læse spillet og til at være på rette plads på rette tidspunkt. Lange Søren - og Martin Jørgensen, der leverede adskillige gode indlæg, scorede senere hvert et mål; begge på hovedstød. Morten Olsen havde lagt en god plan - for denne kamp og den næste - og sørgede for at den blev fulgt; det var givetvis grunden til at han trak Søren Larsen ned på jorden, »hold dig til hvad du kan« - og Thomas Gravesen ud i 2' halvleg. Gravesen havde spillet bedre end længe og begyndte at blomstre, men kunne have skaffet sig endnu et »kort« og dermed en karantæne i kampen mod Tyrken. Der var mange gode Danske præstationer, og generelt var niveauet bedre end tidligere i år: Martin Jørgensen spillede rigtig godt, og det samme gjorde anfører Thomas Helveg - men trods den generelle overlegenhed, eller på grund af den?, leverede Danskerne flere gange nogle fæle blottelser. Bogdani scorede én af disse gange takket være overblik og stor ro - og bekræftede H.C. Hansen's gamle udsagn: "Der er draget omsorg for at træerne ikke vokser ind i himlen".

Henning Larsen's projekt ved Skanderbegpladsen Tårnet: Louis Becker fortæller at der er skrevet kontrakt med Edil-al-it. Henning Larsen's Tegnestue skal udarbejde et udvidet projektforslag i 1:100 på det 43.000 m2 store kompleks med hovedvægten på det ydre. Herefter bliver projektet overgivet til lokal/italiensk arkitekt, der projekterer færdigt. HLT skal godkende øvrige tegninger og vil jævnlig komme til stede på byggepladsen. Boligkompleks med butikker nederst, 500 meter fra Skanderbeg-pladsen: HLT har skal lave de overordnede tegninger for bygherren Pandi Carapuli [Pandeli Carapuli] og tegne videre på fase 1 på ca. 7500 m2. Begge projekter skal afleveres oktober-november 2005.

Vejprojekter. EBRD (Den Europæiske Udviklingsbank) skriver om et nyt lån på 35 mio € til Albanien.

Serbien: PM Kostunica har været i Italien og bl.a. talt om Kosovo.

Anklagemyndigheden ved ICTY har for kort tid siden afspillet videomateriale der synes at dokumentere at Soldater fra den Serbiske Skorpion-enhed likviderede Muslimer ved skud på nært hold. Videomaterialet er spillet i Serbisk TV og har fået de Serbiske Myndigheder til at anholde dé Soldater man kunne identificere og lokalisere. Nogle Serbere er blevet rystet over drabene.

USA [Tyrkiet]: PM Erdogan har været i USA og mødtes med Præsident Bush. Robert Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State har holdt et oplæg om forholdet mlm USA og Tyrkiet.

[Bosnien / Serbien] TV2 har vist »Behind Enemy Lines« (2002) instrueret af John Moore med Owen Wilson og Gene Hackman. Et Amerikansk Rekognosceringsfly skydes ned over Bosnien af Bosnisk-Serbiske Styrker, mens det filmede en massegrav. Efter at være sprunget ud blev Piloten dræbt på klos hold; Navigatøren (Wilson) lykkedes med at flygte. Hans Chef, Admiral Reigart, ønskede at undsætte ham, men blev forhindret af NATO's Militære Ledelse. Adm. Reigart satte sig imidlertid ud over de givne ordrer og undsatte Navigatøren - der i sidste øjeblik fik bevismaterialet med sig. Mange af de Bosniske Serbere blev udslettet under undsætningsmanøvren. Kommentar: Filmen er en actionfilm der dog er lidt mere interessant end de fleste, fordi den er dét tættere på virkeligheden; men i det store og hele er det en sort/hvid-film. Amerikanerne er helte, de Bosniske Serbere skurke - og tilskuerne får kun tomme kalorier og absolut ikke noget at arbejde med eller spekulere over. Gengivelsen af de politiske og militære modsætninger på Balkan er ren staffage.

Danmark: Flygtning fra Albanien? Ulla Ringgård oplyser at den pgl. Flygtning faktisk kom fra Albanien, hvor han blev pågrebet og torteret omkring 1997. Flygtningen skjulte sig i Albanien fra 1997/98 og kom til Danmark med sin Kone i 1999. Kommentar: I 1996/97 var der stor uro i Albanien, umiddelbart udløst af omfattende kollaps i en række pyramideforetagender. Militærets våbenlagre blev plyndret og der udbrød oprør mod det daværende regime, hvad der førte til at NATO intervenerede og at Præsident Berisha måtte gå af. Senere blev der valgt nyt Parlament, ny Præsident og ny Regering (under ledelse af Fatos Nano, fra Efteråret 1998 af Pandeli Majko). Det ser ikke ud til at den konkrete sag giver grundlag for berettiget kritik af de nuværende Albanske Myndigheder og heller ikke af de Danske Myndigheder. Den lægelige diagnose på psykisk sammenbrud har givet grundlag for at bevilge opholdstilladelse af humanitære grunde; havde en sådan diagnose ikke foreligget, ville Myndighederne næppe have haft lovhjemmel til at bevilge ophold.




INTERNATIONALE ORGANISATIONER m.v.

Opmærksomheden henledes på Economic Reconstruction and Development in South East Europe. Adressen er www.seerecon.org. Her kan man finde materiale om aktuelle møder og konferencer.



FN


VERDENSBANKEN, IMF M.FL.

Se under de enkelte lande / områder.


OSCE, Europarådet

Se under de enkelte lande / områder.


EU


NATO


ICTY - TRIBUNALET I HAAG

Sagen mod Slobodan Milosevic: (1) Retsmødet 5.7.2004. Udsættelser osv. Links & materiale: Om udskrift af anklageskrifter og retsbøger   |   (2) Milosevic' indledende forsvarstale; tildeling af Forsvarsadvokater   |   (3) Afhøring af de første af Forsvarets Vidner. Sagen udsættes til 12.10.2004. Skriftlig begrundelse for at tildele Milosevic Forsvarsadvokater   |   (4) Forsvarernes appel (29.9.2004; som pdf); (5) Appelafgørelsen der - i høj grad - gav Milosevic medhold (1.11.2004; som pdf); (6) Afhøring af Professor Mihajlo Markovic (Nov. 2004)


Anklagemyndigheden ved ICTY har for kort tid siden afspillet videomateriale der synes at dokumentere at Soldater fra den Serbiske Skorpion-enhed likviderede Muslimer ved skud på nært hold. Videomaterialet er spillet i Serbisk TV og har fået de Serbiske Myndigheder til at anholde dé Soldater man kunne identificere og lokalisere. Nogle Serbere er blevet rystet over drabene.

B92 skriver:

AS the Hague Tribunal's Trial Chamber debates whether video-recordings of civilian Muslim prisoners being executed in Srebrenica can be admitted as evidence, Prosecutor Jeffery Nice has said that he will produce a protected witness who will confirm the authenticity of the recordings.

Nice said that the witness will appear under the maximum protection measures possible.

Defendant Slobodan Milosevic, in court today to continue his defence, disputed the value of the footage which shows the execution of six Muslim prisoners who the defence claim were taken from Srebrenica and killed in the village of Trnovo.

While not disputing that the recording shows a crime, Milosevic described it as suspicious, saying that no conclusions could be drawn from the material of when the crime occurred and where the victims were brought from.

The former Yugoslav president told Judge Patrick Robinson that it ws not sufficient to confirm that Serbian police committed crimes nor any connection between Serbia and the Srebrenica massacre.

"Mr Robinson, I draw your attention to what Nice has said. He said that the connection would be established with what has been shown. Can something like this be accepted? Every television in Serbia and worldwide is asking whether the tapes are from Srebrenica, but Nice says that the connection will be established," said Milosevic.

Robinson noted that the court had not yet ruled on whether the recording could be admitted as evidence and that the basic claim of the prosecution that it showed a crime committed by Serbian police would soon be reviewed. "Whether he secceeds in establishing that link or not is up to the court to decide and we're not interested in the public perception of the recording. We will decide its value," said the presiding judge.

Milosevic's court-appointed legal representatives, Gillian Higgins and Steven Kay dismissed the tape as pure sensationalism.

"No kind of basis for the videotape has been submitted. Who are the victims? Where did the murder happen? When did it happen? We have only Mr Nice's word and nothing else. Milosevic has the right to know the basis for introducing the tape and what evidence the prosecution has. If the prosecutor has a witness statement it must immediatly be given to Milosevic," said the defence.

Nice told the court that a protected witness brought to The Hague would testify to the authenticity of the recording. "Identification will be made by a witness who was present, who recorded a large partof the material and who passed the videocamera to people who recorded the other part. He will testify that the people executed were brough in groups from Srebrenica," said the prosecutor.

The court directed the prosecution to produce all additional material relevant to confirming the value of the reording, including the statement of the protected witness, by next Wednesday.


Sagen mod Ramush Haradinaj. ICTY har besluttet midlertidigt at løslade Haradinaj. ICTY skriver:

DECISION RENDERED ON RAMUSH HARADINAJ’S MOTION FOR PROVISIONAL RELEASE

Today, 6 June 2005, Trial Chamber II granted the provisional release for Ramush Haradinaj subject to certain restrictions. The Decision, however, is stayed providing the Prosecution 24 hours to file an appeal, pursuant to Rule 65 (F) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal.

On 21 April 2005, the Defence of Ramush Haradinaj filed a Motion requesting provisional release for the Accused until the commencement of the trial phase of the proceedings. The Prosecution filed its Response to the request on 5 May 2005 opposing the Motion noting that "… despite the Accused’s voluntary surrender to the Tribunal and the offer of guarantees provided by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo ("UNMIK") the court cannot be satisfied on the evidence presently before it that UNMIK has the practical ability to arrest and return Mr. Haradinaj should that need arise. The unique circumstances and climate for witnesses living in Kosovo are such that the Chamber cannot be satisfied that the provisional release will not pose a danger to victims and witnesses."

In coming to its Decision, the Trial Chamber stated the following:

"On the basis of the evidence adduced by the Accused in fulfillment of his burden of proof, including evidence of voluntary surrender, assurances by UNMIK and his own undertakings, as well as on the basis of the considerations elaborated above, the Trial Chamber is satisfied that, if released, he will appear for trial an that there are no indications that he will pose any danger to victims, witnesses or other persons."


Sagen mod Fatmir Limaj m.fl.: On 13 April 2005, the Prosecution concluded its case. The trial is to resume on 17 May 2005.


BALKAN LANDE, LANDE VED ØSTLIGE MIDDELHAV

BALKAN GENERELT



Udsnit af EU's Europakort 2004. [Udsnittet kan forstørres ved at klikke på det]. Kortet indgår i en præsentationsborchure, der kan downloades som pdf fra: http://europa.eu.int/comm/publications/booklets/eu_glance/20/da.pdf.



KOSÓVA

Bynavne: Angives der to navne på samme lokalitet, er den Albanske nævnt først. Se oversigten på: http://bjoerna.dk/kosova/byer.htm ... Bynavne: Angives der to navne på samme lokalitet, er den Albanske nævnt først. Se oversigten på: http://bjoerna.dk/kosova/byer.htm ... Rapporter fra FNs Generalsekretær ... 040616 SG Kofi Annan udtaler at han agter at udpege Søren Jessen-Petersen som 5' SRSG. Søren Jessen-Petersen blev senere udpeget og tiltrådte i Kosóva 040816. ... 0308 Harri Holkeri tiltrådte som 4' SRSG. Fratrådt 0406 af helbredsmæssige grunde. ... 020214 Michael Steiner tiltrådte i Kosova som 3' SRSG og fratrådte i begyndelsen af 0307. ... En biografi over 2' SRSG Hans Hækkerup kan læses på Danske Politikere. En anmeldelse af hans bog »Kosovos mange ansigter« kan downloades fra: http://neva.hjem.wanadoo.dk/Haekkerup2.pdf (0,4 MB) ... Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-Government. ... Kosova's Regering. ... Webside vedr. 2004-valgene ... UNMIK Politiets oversigt over 2001 (artikler, billeder og statistik i pdf-format (fil'en er forholdsvis stor: 2,6 MB)) ... Kriminaliteten i 2002 - Oversigt kan downloades [klik på titlen]


Parlamentsvalget 2004 [Præsidenten - Ibrahim Rugóva - er valgt af Parlamentet, the Assembly], se: http://kosovoelections.org/eng/


Norske Ambassadør Eide skal forestå FN's undersøgelse af om man i Kosóva lever op til 'standarderne'. UM i Serbien-Montenegro skriver:

MY MISSION IN KOSOVO TO BE INDEPENDENT, I WILL CARRY OUT COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF SITUATION: SAYS EIDE. LONDON, June 7 (Tanjug) - Special envoy of the UN secretary general Kai Eide, who is in charge of appraising the realisation of democratic standards in Kosovo-Metohija, has said that his mission will be an independent one and that he will carry out a comprehensive review of the situation, as well as that he will try to make a realistic and authentic report in scope of the efforts in resolving the province's status. In an interview, which the British BBC Radio broadcasted late on Monday, Eide underscored that his intention was to begin working as soon as possible - maybe next week. I will have to spend a lot of time on the terrains of Kosovo, engage in a number of visits and talks, particularly in Belgrade, in the countries of the Contact Group and neighboring countries, Eide said. His mission, as he put it, will represent a comprehensive review of the situation, and there is still no clear notion as to how long it will last.


B92 skriver:

WASHINGTON -- Tuesday — The UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for the assessment of standards in Kosovo says that his mission will be broad ranging.

“My mandate is much broader than just assessing the meeting of standards. I am required to make a broad assessment of the political situation and political reality, so that the standards are only one part of a broader mandate,” Kai Eide told the BBC.

Eide said that his mission in the province could begin as early as next week and that he would operate independently while cooperating with all interested parties. The Norwegian diplomat says that his mission will be comprehensive but that he does not yet have a clear picture of how long it will take.

He added that he would have to travel for a number of meetings, particularly in Belgrade, to Contact Group countries and to neighbouring countries.

“Belgrade’s opinion a lot less significant”

Meanwhile, the director of foreign policy studies at the US Cato Institute says that Washington and leading centres in the EU have already agreed that Kosovo cannot remain part of Serbia. Ted Carpenter told The Voice of America that US and EU policies were most important in seeking a resolution of Kosovo’s status, with Belgrade’s opinion being a lot less significant.

“It’s difficult to imagine any kind of circumstances in which the US and the European Union would accept the Serbian Government’s option over independence. It’s becoming more and more clear that the political elite in the US and the European Union have decided that the only solution to the problem is an independent Kosovo,” he said.

Asked whether an independent Kosovo would cause further disintegration of the state union of Serbia-Montenegro, Carpenter said that the causes of any disintegration should above all be sought in the relations between Serbia and Montenegro themselves.

He added, however, that the problem of an independent Kosovo is that it could encourage the concept of a Greater Albanian, which would entail the transfer of more territory at the expense of Macedonia and other parts of Serbia and Montenegro.


Sagen mod Ramush Haradinaj. ICTY har besluttet midlertidigt at løslade Haradinaj. ICTY skriver:

DECISION RENDERED ON RAMUSH HARADINAJ’S MOTION FOR PROVISIONAL RELEASE

Today, 6 June 2005, Trial Chamber II granted the provisional release for Ramush Haradinaj subject to certain restrictions. The Decision, however, is stayed providing the Prosecution 24 hours to file an appeal, pursuant to Rule 65 (F) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal.

On 21 April 2005, the Defence of Ramush Haradinaj filed a Motion requesting provisional release for the Accused until the commencement of the trial phase of the proceedings. The Prosecution filed its Response to the request on 5 May 2005 opposing the Motion noting that "… despite the Accused’s voluntary surrender to the Tribunal and the offer of guarantees provided by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo ("UNMIK") the court cannot be satisfied on the evidence presently before it that UNMIK has the practical ability to arrest and return Mr. Haradinaj should that need arise. The unique circumstances and climate for witnesses living in Kosovo are such that the Chamber cannot be satisfied that the provisional release will not pose a danger to victims and witnesses."

In coming to its Decision, the Trial Chamber stated the following:

"On the basis of the evidence adduced by the Accused in fulfillment of his burden of proof, including evidence of voluntary surrender, assurances by UNMIK and his own undertakings, as well as on the basis of the considerations elaborated above, the Trial Chamber is satisfied that, if released, he will appear for trial an that there are no indications that he will pose any danger to victims, witnesses or other persons."




Pressemeddelelse fra UNMIK:

UNMIK/PR/1372 Tuesday, 7 June 2005

PRISTINA – UNMIK today issued the following statement on the decision by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to grant provisional release to Kosovo’s former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj pending his trial:

“UNMIK takes note of the decision of the ICTY to approve the motion for Provisional Release of former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj pending his trial.

In issuing its order, the ICTY has imposed various conditions for the provisional release. The ICTY has also set out requirements that UNMIK, as the interim administrative authority in Kosovo under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999), must fulfil to ensure that Mr Haradinaj complies with the conditions of his provisional release. These conditions are detailed in the Tribunal’s order which is a public document.

During the 24 May hearing in which the Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General participated, and in related exchanges of correspondence, UNMIK informed the Tribunal of its authority and ability to fulfil requirements set out by the court in connection with the decision to grant provisional release, and gave assurances that it will take all necessary measures to comply with the Tribunal’s requirements.

Also, in applying for provisional release, Mr Haradinaj has given assurances to the Tribunal that he would fulfil all the conditions imposed if provisional release were granted. UNMIK anticipates full co-operation from Mr Haradinaj in the implementation of the provisional release order of the ICTY.”




OSCE Ambassadør Wnendt er blevet interviewet:

Ambassador Werner Wnendt, the recently-appointed Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, speaks about what has been achieved so far, the major challenges still facing the people of the region and his hopes for the future of Kosovo.

What did you first notice when you came to Kosovo?

I noticed that many things look very familiar, since I have some experience in the region. What strikes me most is that this is a beautiful part of Europe when it comes to people, landscape, history and culture. But I have also noticed that there are problems, such as the economic situation and the relations between people who need to live together. There are specific issues in Kosovo which I will deal with, and I hope that both the OSCE and I personally can contribute to the most important issue, which is developing Kosovo in such a way that it can be a home for all people who want to live here together, in peace with their neighbours.

With regard to improving relations between the people, what is your view of the political situation here in Kosovo?

The political situation can be characterized as that of a developing democratic system. I wish we had more political players who see beyond their own specific interests, and work in the interests of Kosovo as a whole. That is what we lack here. There are many political players and many political parties, but very often it's their own political interests which are their priority. They speak only for some people and they do not yet understand that it is necessary to see the future of Kosovo as a whole. We need to work on this and improve the political situation.

With your arrival, will there be any changes to the Mission's strategy? What will be your priorities and your contribution?

The strategy of this Mission is the same as that of any other OSCE Mission. It does not depend on the personality of the Head of Mission. Of course I come with some ideas, and have experience gained in Bosnia and Herzegovina and with conflict in the Western Balkans in general. My experience goes back to the very beginning of the conflict. I hope that I can introduce some of my ideas and that they will be accepted.

What is more important is that we are at the beginning of a process that will probably change the situation in Kosovo. I hope that our mandate can be adapted so that we can contribute to this process. I think there is now a window of opportunity, not only for Kosovo but for the whole of the Balkans. The situation may change considerably and become much more stable, with this area of Europe integrated into European structures for co-operation.

The OSCE is involved in the implementation of two very important standards for Kosovo: the functioning of democratic institutions and property rights. What is your assessment of their implementation - where have there been successes and have you seen any failures?

We have succeeded in establishing democratic institutions, for instance the parliament and government, and many others, including the media commission, the election commission, as well as those that deal with judicial training and police training. Of course they have to be improved and strengthened; capacity building needs to continue. However, I would consider these democratic institutions very successful. We will, in the future, concentrate further on these institutions, principally on the democratically-elected bodies at the central level, including the Assembly, but also on the municipal assemblies that lie at the very core of democratic development. If you have a parliament at the central level and assemblies in the municipalities working as real democratic institutions, then a great deal can change in the political system as a whole. That is why establishing democratic institutions is so important and that is why I offer a close partnership to the Assembly and to its president. I will also do the same with the municipal assemblies.

The property rights and returns issues are very complicated matters. The roots of the problems go back well before the conflict in the region started. It is also partly to do with the former system and, therefore, no easy solutions are possible. On the other hand, it is very important that we achieve some progress here. Resolving property issues and supporting the returns process is very important if you really want to create a Kosovo which is a common home for all the people.

You have had talks with political leaders here in Kosovo and in Belgrade. Do you think that there is genuine political will for dialogue?

I am convinced that this will exists among politicians in Prishtinë/Pristina and in Belgrade. I can see, and this is a feeling I have when I look to other parts of the Western Balkans, that there is an understanding that we are principally talking about the future. This does not mean that we do not deal with the past and with history, but this is an important process that needs to continue. There needs to be reconciliation, there needs to be a common approach towards how to deal with the past and what happened.

There is a growing understanding and recognition among politicians that they have to work towards the future of the region and that it is necessary to make compromises because, whatever happens, you will continue to be neighbours. You cannot change your geographical position. That is why I am hopeful that this is the beginning of a serious process which will bring the whole region - Belgrade, Prishtinë/Pristina, and all the others - closer together in the European integration process.

You come from a country which is one of the initiators of European integration. What is your view on integration of this part of the Balkans?

I have a clear view here. But first of all, let me point out that Germany has been working together with many other partners for more than fifty years now to promote European integration. In fact, European integration is actually a peace process - the most successful peace process in human history. It has turned enemies into friends and partners and I think that this kind of process is possible in all parts of Europe and in this region as well.

I am the Head of the OSCE Mission and it is really not for the OSCE to discuss this, but speaking as a convinced European, I hope that the whole of the Western Balkans can be fully integrated into the European peace process as soon as possible. This is our common task. Not only must the politicians and the people in the region prepare themselves for it, but the people of the European Union also need to work on it and need to help the region arrive at this point.

There is often much confusion about the relationship of standards to the final status of Kosovo. Progress on the standards is a precondition for status talks, but is it true that the fulfilment of standards will also be one of the conditions for the talks to start?

The standards are basically common values - shared by the nations of Europe and beyond - of democracy, human rights, protection of minorities, etc. The implementation of standards is an ongoing process that includes benchmarks. The level of the implementation of standards will determine if time has come to talk about status. However, the implementation of standards will not end with the beginning of the status discussions. Certain standards also need to be met to make further progress with the European integration processes.

To what extent is your experience from Bosnia and Herzegovina of help to your work in Kosovo and what are the main differences between these two places? How much has Kosovo progressed and where does it stand in comparison to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the integration processes?

I can certainly profit from my experience in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and not only from my time there, but also from my previous engagements with regional affairs, which go back to the very beginning of the conflict. It means that I can probably understand the people, the roots of the conflict and the reasons why things happened much better than a newcomer could. In that sense it is very helpful.

There are differences, of course, when making comparisons with the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The issue there is not to define status or resolve the question of status, but to come up with an arrangement that will allow the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina to live together and to proceed towards integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, you do not have one people in the majority, which is a significant difference, whereas in Kosovo, you have a large majority community and you have minority communities, so it's a whole different set of challenges. The first question that needs to be answered is, what will be the way forward when it comes to the status question? You may think that Bosnia and Herzegovina is ahead of Kosovo in this respect, but when you look at the actual establishing of institutions, of democratic bodies, I think that much has also been achieved in Kosovo. I don't think that you could quantify these comparisons in terms of years, or say that Kosovo is years behind, because once certain things have been clarified in Kosovo, I think that it will be very much in the same boat as other parts of the region.

Do you have a message for the people of Kosovo?

My message is that you need to see that Kosovo and the Western Balkans region are welcome as partners in European integration. The doors are open. There is a window of opportunity to change things, to bring lasting peace and stability and to increase prosperity in the region. But that requires that people concentrate on the future. They must see that this is about building the future and not about looking backwards. You might look back, but you should not look back while you are walking forwards. You must keep looking forward.

8 June 2005




Prizren. Photo by: French CCT of COMKFOR


Ugerapport fra Dansk KFOR. Hærens Operative Kommando skriver (på http://www.hok.dk/):

Uge 22 i Kosovo. Der har i denne uge været beredskabsøvelser i Camp Olaf Rye. Det Litauiske kompagni har besøgt de lokale talsmænd i Mitrovica, og bataljonen har haft besøg af journalister fra de danske medier. Desværre oplevede vi også et færdselsuheld.

Af: Premierløjtnant Arik Twena, Efterretningssektionen, Staben.

Beredskabsøvelser i Camp Olaf Rye

Onsdag d. 1. juni blev Camp Olaf Ryes beredskab afprøvet. Man kunne forvente, at den skarpe sol og den trykkende hede ville have sat sine spor hos beredskabsenhederne, men det havde den ikke. Beredskabsenhederne var, hvis ikke mere, så i hvert fald lige så professionelle som altid. Det blev endnu engang bevist overfor hele bataljonen, at alle kan stole på den forventede opbakning, hvis der skulle blive behov herfor.

Journalistbesøg fra de danske medier

Hele ugen havde bataljonen besøg af journalister fra de danske medier. For at give journalisterne optimale betingelser, havde bataljonen arrangeret ture i bataljonens ansvarsområde, inkluderende ture i helikopter, for at skabe et overblik over det meget skov- og bjergrige terræn.

Endvidere var der arrangeret møder med lokalbefolkningen og mulighed for også selv at komme rundt blandt de lokale og dermed føle stemningen. Hensigten var, at skabe forudsætninger for at danne sig et realistisk og nuanceret billede af hverdagen i Kosovo for både serbere, albanere og ikke mindst de danske soldater.

Programmet var relativt komprimeret og syntes sidst på ugen – forståeligt nok - at have taget pusten fra flere af journalisterne.

Journalisterne repræsenterede det meste af den danske presse, herunder flere lokalblade. Besøget kom derfor ud i alle kroge af lejren, hvor man var interesseret i at møde soldater fra de respektive lokalområder. Mange soldater blev interviewet til både TV, radio og aviser.

Kontaktoperationer

I denne uge har den danske bataljon intensiveret kontakten til lokalbefolkningen (kontaktoperationer) i og omkring Mitrovica. Erfaringer fra tidligere hold viser, at når det begynder at blive rigtig varmt, så begynder der at ske underlige ting i missionsområdet.

I denne uge har vi bl.a. haft svigtende vandforsyninger i Mitrovica, som har resulteret i utilfredshed fra borgernes side, da serberne mener, at albanerne stjæler deres vand og omvendt.

En pudsig episode skete tirsdag d. 31. maj, hvor en ko var flygtet fra sin ejer. Dette er et problem, som især Kosovo Police Service tager meget alvorligt, da en manglende ko kan betyde, at de to etniciteter begynder at beskylde hinanden for tyveri.

I netop denne sag, var der ingen tvivl om at koen selvstændigt - af egen fri vilje - havde gennemført et snedigt flugtforsøg. Netop denne ko er tidligere blevet taget på fersk gerning i forbindelse med et flugtforsøg – så der var altså tale om en kendt ”flugt ko”. En større eftersøgning blev iværksat af KPS tirsdag aften for at finde koen.

Efter nogen timers eftersøgning, kunne KPS melde, at koen var blevet fundet. Nu var der blot det problem, at en albansk gårdejer klagede over manglende græs på hans mark. Dette skyldtes nok, at koen tilhørte en serber.

Færdselsuheld

Torsdag den 2. juni oplevede bataljonen desværre et færdselsuheld, hvor en 4x4 Geländewagen med fire danske soldater væltede under en rutine patrulje. Ingen af de fire blev alvorligt kvæstet, men grundet det uvejsomme terræn valgte den tilstedeværende læge at evakuere to af soldaterne med helikopter til det franske felthospital. Den tredje soldat blev med ambulance kørt til det nærliggende spanske felthospital. Den fjerde soldat var uskadt.

Det kunne efter de indledende undersøgelser fastslås, at der var diverse skader såsom et brækket kraveben, bøjede ribben og en masse hårde knubs.

I forbindelse med ulykken ydede de tilstedeværende kammerater en fantastisk indsats og bataljonens FALCON beredskab udviste en meget professionel, hurtig og kompetent indsats. Bataljonens kriseplan blev iværksat og alle ydede deres bedste for at hjælpe deres kammerater.

Lige så hurtigt det kunne lade sig gøre, fik de tilskadekomne mulighed for at ringe til deres pårørende.

Bataljonen følger de tilskadekomne og andre implicerede/involverede i ulykken tæt, og vil tilsikre, at der bliver givet al den støtte der er mulig.

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Rigtig mange af de udsendte soldater i Kosovo ønsker fastansættelse efter hjemkomst fra Kosovo.

Af: major Anders Faurschou Mathiesen, presseofficer

I forbindelse med en netop afsluttet tegningsrunde har utroligt mange konstabler og sergenter ønsket at tegne kontrakt med Forsvaret om fortsat tjeneste. Med en udfordrende, indholdsrig og spændende tjeneste fra Kosovo i bagagen, er der foreløbig 68 der søger om at blive fastansat i Forsvaret efter endt udsendelse.

Derudover forventes yderligere ca. 10 at tegne en kontrakt med Forsvaret. Det betyder, at næsten 1/3 af de udsendte soldater ønsker at fortsætte deres tjeneste i det professionelle danske Forsvar efter hjemkomst fra Kosovo.

Det er uden tvivl den positive oplevelse de unge mennesker har haft i Kosovo, der har motiveret dem til kontrakttegningen, og oplevelsen af, at det nytter noget at være udsendt i en international mission. Soldaterne har mærket på egen krop, at de er med til at gøre en stor forskel.


ØST KOSÓVA / PRESEVO-DALEN / SYD-SERBIEN


For nemheds skyld bruges betegnelsen Øst Kosóva / Presevo-dalen om det omstridte område med byerne: Presheva, Medvegja og Bujanoci (Albansk stavemåde). Ca. 75 % af befolkningen skønnes at være etniske Albanere - måske omkring 70.000. En modstandsgruppe har været i funktion, men synes nu at være »lukket ned«. Gruppen kaldtes i forkortet form UCPMB (som står for noget i retning af: Ushtria Clirimtare e Presheva, Medvegja dhe Bujanoci; på Engelsk: Liberation Army of Presheva, Medvegja and Bujanoci). Gruppen sagde at den intet havde at gøre med Kosova's UCK, og at den var en lokal gruppe.


ALBANIEN




Klik på kortet, hvis du vil have det forstørret / click http://bjoerna.dk/kort/Albanien.gif to enlarge it


Info fra Albaniens Statistik: Befolkningstal: 3,1 Mio (1.1.2004). GDP (Gross Domestic Product): 630 Mia Lek (2002, current prices); GDP-structure: Agriculture: 26 %, Industry 10-11 %, Construction: 7-8 %, Services: 55-56 %. Export: 54 mia lek (2003) [heraf til Danmark: 23 mio lek; størrelsesorden 1,2 mio kr], Import: 226 mia lek (2003) [Heraf fra Danmark: 855 mio lek; størrelsesorden: 45-50 mio kr], Tradedeficit: 171 mia lek (2003). Største import fra Italien (75 mia lek) og Grækenland (45 mia lek), største eksport til Italien (40 mia lek). Unemployment: 14-15 % (2004-III)





Det Engelske Udenrigsministeriums 'Country Advice' til rejsende kan findes på adressen: http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket%2FXcelerate%2FShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029390590&a=KCountryAdvice&aid=1013618385522. Det Danske UM har pt ingen rejsevejledning, men henviser til det Engelske UM. Den Norske Ambassade kan findes på: http://www.norvegji.org/. Det Amerikanske UM har Juni 2004 offentliggjort en 'Background Note' om Albanien: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3235.htm


Mother Teresa: http://bjoerna.dk/albanien/Teresa.htm.


Præsident Moisiu's aktiviteter [Billederne i denne sektion kan som regel forstørres ved at klikke på dem (mens man er på nettet)]:


Forfatteren Ismail Kadare har fået en fornem litteraturpris. I den anledning udtaler Præsident Moisiu:

The President of the Republic, Alfred Moisiu held a phone conversation with the great writer Ismail Kadare, whom he congratulated on receiving the Man Booker International Prize.

President Moisiu stated that this prestigious prize is a major appreciation done to Mr. Kadare and it is also an honor to the entire Albanian nation.

Man Booker International Prize honors the novelists and the poets who have offered a valuable contribution to literature. Some of the greatest writers of world literature were competing for this prize.


PM Nano siger tilsvarende:

The Prime Minister Fatos Nano send a congratulating message to the eminent writer, Mr. Ismail Kadare, on the occasion of being estimated with the international prize “Man Booker”. In the message is written:

“With great pleasure, although it was not a surprise, I heard the news of Your estimation with the prestigious prize “Man Booker”. I say, I was not a surprise, because all of us, compatriots, readers and worshipers of your creations, not only in Albania but everywhere in the world, we consider quite normal this estimation for your artistic genius, whose size and values have since long ago reached a global dimension.

[Noget er faldet ud i originalen] let me dear friend, to share with you the conviction that Albania and Balkan, the peninsula with which we share not only the geographical position but even the history, culture, tradition, are an inherent part of Europe, its culture and civilization, that’s why we deserve a better future, leaving behind once and forever that chapter of thorns and acts that blooded the end of the XX century, to look at the future, peace, human rights, freedom and prosperity that today are embodied in the great European family.

Personally I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the noble mission you perform, although without official posts, in the sublimation of the image of or dear country everywhere in the world, what gives Your profile the shiny aureole of our Renaissance writers, who gave everything to see this country in line with the civilized countries.

Finally, I wish you good health, other successes in your job, as well as happiness and prosperity in your family”, concludes his message the Prime Minister Fatos Nano.


Det forestående valg. Præsidenten har haft møde med Anklagemyndigheden. Præsidentkontoret har udsendt flg.:




June 3, 2005. The President of the Republic, Alfred Moisiu received today in the morning the Attorney General, Theodhori Sollaku and other high ranking directors of the Attorney General Office to discuss the role of this independent state institution in the electoral process.

President Moisiu emphasized that the Prosecutor Office, the same as any other organism foreseen by the Constitution and the laws, it is not part of the electoral campaign. The Head of State stated that it would be careful for the figure of the Attorney General to be always impartial and that the prosecutors must have their say only in the voting booths as all the other citizens. They must not express stands in favor of one political force or the other.

The Head of State stressed that it is important to implement correctly and impartially the laws that the prosecutors have in possession while carrying out their duties. President Moisiu pointed out that he hopes for these elections not to need the intervention of prosecutors, but the experience has not been good in this direction. The Prosecutor’s Office, if it is required, must exercise the duties with maximal responsibility from the prosecutors and judiciary police part.

President Moisiu emphasized that since the periods of the electoral elections in the past have created a more favorable environment for the intensifying of crime in general, the prosecutors must be more mobilized to stay close to the job in order to have under control the situation and the and the normal holding of the July 3 elections.

On his part, the Attorney general Sollaku appreciated the meeting with President Moisiu and pointed out that the institution that he heads will follow the duties in full implementation of the Constitution and the laws in effect.


Præsidenten er glad for at det store flertal af Politikere følger 'the Code of Conduct'. Præsidentkontoret har udsendt flg.:



[Th for Præsidenten ses først Mrs Laska, derefter den Amerikanske Ambassadør og OSCE's Ambassadør]


June 8, 2005

The President of the Republic, Alfred Moisiu during the meeting on the implementation of the Law of Conflict of Interests, which was held in the High Inspectorate for Declaring and Control of Assets, stressed that he has invited the political parties to become an active part of an active part of the implementation process of the Code of Conduct, which has in its foundation the moral values and civil responsibility in front of electorate and the country.

“I am pleased that the majority of the politicians, the media and the most part of the public opinion have welcomed this Code. There is also a minority that commits infractions and does not respect it, but I hope that even they will realize that there will not be any post, armchair or political service more important then the moral and civil values that the Code of Conduct offers.” – stated President Moisiu.

The Head of State emphasized that this meeting demonstrates once again the importance and capability of the state continuing to function, regardless of the electoral campaign. “The state is not campaigning, but the political parties are and the best example is this one today. In this context, I express my appreciation about the public promises of some political forces that their future parliamentarians will not use the parliamentarian immunity as a shield to be protected from possible accusations of corruption and abuse of power.” – stated President Moisiu.

President Moisiu stated that we often hear and talk about conflicts of interest of certain candidates or political parties. “Some one uses the state post, the budget funds and administration to campaign, therefore for electoral interests. Others use the local government. These phenomena make up legal infractions, but the alienation from them often has to do with moral obligations.” – concluded President Moisiu.


PM Fatos Nano's aktiviteter: [Billederne i denne sektion kan som regel forstørres ved at klikke på dem (mens man er på nettet)]


PM Nano har fortsat sin rundrejse til de forskellige valgkredse. Senest har han bl.a. været i Shkodra. Nedenfor følger hans tale dér (haves kun på Albansk):

       


Kryeministri dhe Kryetar i PSSH-së, Fatos Nano është takuar sot pasdite me banorë të Shkodrës. Në këtë takim z.Nano është shprehur:

“Mirë se ju gjeta të dashur motra dhe vëllezër, Shkodranë, miq dhe mbrojtjës të progresit europian dhe shkodërloce.

Kar ardhur sot tek ju për të ndarë dhe forcuar besimin e plotë se Shkodra më 3 korrik do të bashkohet me të gjithë Shqipërinë, në fitoren e madhe të socialistëve dhe europianëve.

Kam ardhur t’ju ftoj në të ardhmen, që të shkëputeni nga e kaluara e mjerimit berishian, të bashkoheni me votën europiane të gjithë shqiptarëve, të bashkoheni me ne në vendimin më të rëndësishëm të marrë nga kombi në 15 vjetët e fundit, ta cojmë Shqipërinë në Evropë në vend që të kthehemi apo të rrimë në regjimin e kolonelëve politikë që mbjellin kaos, frikë, dhunë e shkatërrim. Koha e Berishës është e kryme e plotë. Ajo perëndon dhe në Shkodër në 3 korrik 2005.

Unë jam i bindur ashtu si edhe Ju për peshën e rëndë të votës së 3 korrikut. Së bashku dhe vetëm sëbashku do të vazhdojmë investimin e madh për ndryshimin e Shkodrës si gjithë Shqipërisë për një të ardhme më të mirë.

Ne na duhet vota e shkodranëve dhe gjithë shqiptarëve për të realizuar programet që dyfishojnë pagat, që shtojnë 100 mijë vende pune, që thithin 1 miliardë dollarëve vetëm nga turizmi, që rrisin 40% të ardhurat e fermerëve, që hapin dyert e Universiteteve për të gjithë të rinjtë që duan edukim europian. Na duhet vota juaj, motra e vëllezër, për të vazhduar rrugën e pandalur drejt Brukselit.

Në 3 Korrik 2005, historia, edhe këtu në Shkodër, duhet të mbyllë faqen e jetes politike te këtij njeriu qe aq shume na ka vonuar, mashtruar dhe hidhëruar.

Ne fituesit garantojme paqe dhe zhvillim. Humbesit, edhe këtu në Shkodër, duhet te garantojne se ate dite do te shkojnë ne shtepi dhe do të vazhdojnë të shijojnë lirinë dhe demokracinë që mbrojmë ne. Në 4 korrik cimentohet paqja, vazhdon qetesia, nuk cënohet liria, rendi dhe lëvizjet mbeten të të lira dhe të garantuara. Shijojeni ate dite, motra dhe vellezer shkodranë. Është një ditë historike.

Motra e vëllezër, jemi këtu për t’ju çliruar me uraganin e madh europian nga kthetrat e regjimit primitiv të Berishës. Është mashtrimi më i madh në demokraci që Shkodra me votë të manipuluar kontrollohet nga pseudo e djathta dhe mbahet larg progresit dhe Europës.

Janë tullumbace shpifjet se Shkodra është e braktisur nga qeveria socialiste. Më dëgjoni me kujdes, politika e demokratëve në Shkodër është “shpif dhe sundo në errësirë dhe varfëri”.

Në katër vitet e fundit nga qeveria dhe donatorët që punojnë me ne nga Europa kanë investuar në Shkodër 13 miliard lekë ose dy herë më shumë se në Vlorë. Ne po e afrojmë Shkodrën me viset e tjera shqiptare dhe me Europën drejt së cilës ecim. Arritëm të sjellim superstradën deri në Shkodër, do te vazhdojme ndertimin e unazes se qytetit me investimin 4 milion euro, për ta lidhur Shkodren me fqinjët dhe me Europën.

Më lejoni t’ju them se ne duam që sivjet të çlironi përfaqësinë e Shkodrës në parlament dhe vitin tjetër të çlironi bashkinë e Shkodrës nga kthetrat e moszhvillimit. Sa herë që bashkia e Shkodrës ka paraqitur projekte të argumentuara dhe të vlerësuara, qeveria i është përgjigjur edhe duke prekur rezervat e buxhetit të shtetit. Para një viti isha në Shkodër dhe bashkia paraqiti projektin me vlerë 1.6 miliard lekë. 5 projekte që nga frenimi i përmbytjeve të lumit Kir dhe Bunë deri tek landfill-i me vlerë 1.2 milion euro. Ja kemi dhënë, por nuk duan t’ju përdorin. Ja kemi dhënë, por nuk duan t’i përdorin. Duan t’ju mbajnë në mjerim, nën përmbytje.

Ne do të vazhdojmë të ndërtojmë urën e re mbi lumin Bunë, investim me vlerë 5 milion euro, projektin e së cilës ne e kemi gati dhe kjo do t’ju bëjë akoma më të lirë në lëvizje, sipërmarrje dhe integrim.

Ne së bashku përfunduam projektin e rrugës Cerventin-Drisht, me 400 mijë dollarë investim, përfunduam rrugën deri në fshatin Bardhaj dhe do të përfundojmë së ndërtuari edhe unazën e komunës Rrethinaj, do të ndërtojmë me fshatrat përreth 65 km rrugë të brendshme. Brenda javës që vjen qeveria do të marrë vendimin për fillimin e punimeve të rrugës ura e Bunës-Shirokë-Zogaj me 60 milion lekë të reja investim.

Linja e re e furnizimit me energji elektrike për ujësjellësin në Shkodër do të sigurojnë ujë dhe energji pa ndërprerje për qytetin. Furnizimi me energji do të garantohet edhe për zonën turistike të Zogaj-Shirokë, me investimin 14 milion euro për linjën 110 kV, që ju lidh me Malin e Zi, do të përmirësohen të gjithë parametrat e furnizimit me energji për të gjithë rrethet e qarkut.

Atëherë kush ka të drejtë, mashtruesit e opozitës, apo ne që sjellim zhvillimin dhe Europen në Shkodër? Prandaj çlirojeni Shkodrën nga duart e primitivëve.

Votoni këtë ekip te shkëlqyer, duke u mbështetur tek faktet dhe jo tek shpifjet. Ditën e fitores ne ju garantojmë një ritëm europian në të gjitha familjet tuaja.

Ne jemi njerez të punës dhe jo demagogë.

Të dashur miq, ejani të vazhdojmë këtë rrugë sëbashku. Ja ku është prova, ekipi që paraqesim është i suksesshëm. Ju i njihni, ky ekip do t’i japë Shkodrës, sëbashku me mua, zhvillimin, përparimin, krenarinë e dikurshme dhe vendin e merituar në Europë.

Rroftë Populli shkodran!

Rroftë Shqipëria!”


Parlamentsvalget i 2005 [Præsidenten vælges af Parlamentet for 5 år, næste gang i 2007]:

Valgloven for 2005 kan hentes i pdf-format på: http://www.osce.org/item/14076.html (Engelsk) og http://www.osce.org/item/14076.html?lc=SQ (Albansk).

HTML-udgaver: http://www.osce.org/item/14076.html?html=1 (Engelsk) og http://www.osce.org/item/14076.html?html=1&lc=SQ (Albansk)


Gallup. Der har været noget uro om hvor vidt der består et samarbejde mellem Gallup og Mjaft om at lave valgprognoser. Mjaft forklarer at der er nogen der har misforstået hvad der er blevet fortalt. Der er to Gallup-foretagender; MJAFT har et samarbejde med det ene af dem, Gallup International:

Press release on MJAFT - Gallup International recent poll speculations 02 June 2005

We have invited you in this press conference because we are concerned about today's media speculations, which are artificially shifting the attention from the concrete results of the public opinion poll to ordinary technicalities, and we find it necessary to clarify all the conspiracy theory that followed the publication of the results.

A disclaimer letter has been presented to us last night from Gallup Organization USA.

We want to notify that MJAFT and its partners have never stated that they were conducting polls with Gallup Organization. MJAFT has contracted and has collaborated, as we repeatedly declared during these months, with GALLUP INTERNATIONAL. We recognize Gallup Organization as well. This organization enjoys a notable reputation, but unfortunately does not offer its services to our region, as it was clearly stated in their yesterday's statement.

We and our partners have considered for the implementation of Albanian Public Opinions Polls several specialized organizations in the field and we have specifically chosen BBSS GALLUP INTERNATIONAL, as the right company with the right expertise and with the best network in the region.

Formally founded in 1947 from Dr. George H. Gallup, Gallup International offers today quality and accuracy in the methodology and techniques it uses. Gallup International's representation in 100 different countries enables this organization to successfully integrate the professionalism of local partners with its 50 years international experience.

The evidence that Gallup Organization and Gallup International might have open issues between them, starting from the founder's death George H. Gallup, this does not impede neither of both organizations to offer qualitative and professional services in different geographic areas.

GALLUP INTERNATIONAL enjoys a consolidated, internationally renowned reputation. It is broadly recognized that this company leads the biggest periodic poll in the world "Voice of people" which is conducted in all five continents of the world and serves as a data base for the World Economic Forum. At the same time, BBSS Gallup International, the branch of Gallup International for Central and East Europe (contracted by MJAFT) has conducted dozens of successful polls, based on ICC/ESOMAR standards, in Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, etc.

The Public and the Media are very familiar with Gallup International, because it was exactly the data of this institution which were offered in the last report of the International Commission of the Balkans, headed by Giuliano Amato, and were so enthusiastically presented in the press.

MJAFT is confident in the quality and authenticity of the poll offered to the public yesterday and invites each person to focus on the material, and make a good use of the information to the widest extent, and not draw a blank.


ODIHR / OSCE har udsendt en første rapport i anledning af valget

INTERIM REPORT 1

17–30 May 2005


I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• On 3 July 2005, Albanian voters will elect the 140 members of the Assembly. The Constitution of Albania provides that one hundred of them are elected directly in single mandate election zones and 40 are elected from party or coalition lists. This complex system appears to have allowed some of the parties to develop informal alliances to maximise the number of mandates they might receive. Such strategies could reduce the effectiveness of the election system in meeting the Constitutional objective to inject a degree of proportionality into the election system.

• The election will be held under the Electoral Code adopted in 2003 and amended in 2004 and 2005. The election legislation can provide an adequate basis for a democratic election. However, the extent to which the law will have a positive effect on the process will ultimately depend on the degree of political commitment - first and foremost of State institutions and political parties - to conduct democratic elections and uphold the law.

• The Central Election Commission (CEC) is holding frequent sessions, in general transparently and collegially. However, discussions were often protracted and the CEC has faced delays in adopting instructions necessary for regulating the electoral process. Some parties, notably the Democratic Party, have unduly delayed the nomination of some members to Zone Election Commissions (ZECs). Consequently, not all of the 100 ZECs were operational by the end of May.

• Voter Lists remain a contentious issue. While some of the concerns expressed by interlocutors regard what are essentially administrative errors, others involve family members split between two voting areas, omissions, possible multiple entries and a sizeable number of citizens whose residence could not be verified.

• Currently, 57 parties are registered to contest the election. The campaign is already well underway and many campaign events have taken place, with Socialist Party (SP) and Democratic Party (DP) campaigns being the most visible. The emergence of new parties may further broaden the voters’ choice.

• The media have covered many campaign events. Preliminary monitoring results indicate that the media covered the campaign activities of the SP and DP to the near exclusion of other parties. The tone of the coverage in the electronic media monitored by the Election Observation Mission has thus far been generally measured.


II. INTRODUCTION

In response to an invitation from the Government of Albania to observe the 3 July parliamentary elections, the OSCE/ODIHR deployed an Election Observation Mission (EOM) on 17 May. The OSCE/ODIHR EOM, headed by Mr Jørgen Grunnet (Denmark), consists of 35 election experts and long-term observers (LTOs) from 17 OSCE participating States. The OSCE/ODIHR EOM has deployed LTOs in 11 cities around Albania. The OSCE/ODIHR has requested participating States to second 400 short-term observers (STOs) to observe polling and counting proceedings.

The OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission operates separately from the OSCE Presence in Albania, headed by Ambassador Pavel Vacek, which continues to carry out its regular activities under its existing mandate. However, the OSCE/ODIHR EOM is grateful for the extensive support received from the OSCE Presence in Albania.

A coalition of Albanian NGOs has been formed to observe the upcoming elections, and intends to deploy approximately 3,500 observers throughout the country. The European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations (ENEMO), a group of 17 civic organisations from 16 countries in the OSCE region, intends to deploy 6 long-term and 60 short-term observers.


III. ELECTION CONTEXT

The 2005 parliamentary elections will be the sixth since the establishment of multi-party politics in Albania in 1991. Since then, the two largest parties, the SP and the DP, have dominated the political scene. Mutual mistrust and acrimonious rivalry, including between the party leaders, have resulted in a high degree of political polarisation. Frequently, political deadlock on issues such as electoral reform have only been overcome through the intervention of international institutions, notably the OSCE.

The Socialist Party (SP), led by Prime Minister Fatos Nano, holds the highest number of seats, 73, in the outgoing Parliament1 With the support of two MPs elected as ‘independent’ candidates and 13 MPs from four other parties, the ruling block comprises 88 deputies in the 140 seat assembly.2 In 2001, the opposition ‘Union for Victory coalition’ which, inter alia, included the Democratic Party (DP), led by Dr Sali Berisha, the Republican Party, the Movement for Legality Party and the National Front gained 46 seats.3 The New Democratic Party gained 6 seats.

Recent political developments include the founding in 2004 of the Socialist Movement for Integration4 (SMI), led by former Prime Minister Ilir Meta, and the emergence of a new political grouping called the Movement for National Development – Leka Zog (MND).5

Historically, the Democratic Party derives its strongest support in the north of Albania while the Socialist Party is well supported in the south. The central region of the country is likely to be keenly contested. The Human Rights Union Party (HRUP) seeks the political support of national minorities, in particular Albania’s Greek speaking communities, that reside mostly in the far south.

Sixteen political parties agreed to sign a Code of Conduct initiated by the President of Albania, Mr. Alfred Moisiu, and calling, inter alia, for law-abidance and restraint during the campaign.


IV. ELECTORAL SYSTEM

The Constitution of Albania provides that the National Assembly is composed of 140 deputies. One hundred are elected directly in single mandate election zones in a single election round with candidates requiring a plurality, but not an absolute majority, of the vote to be elected.6 The remaining 40 deputies are elected from party or coalition lists. To be entitled to these 40 mandates, parties and coalitions have to pass a threshold of 2.5 and 4 percent of the valid vote, respectively.

While the Constitution establishes an election system in which over 71% of mandates are awarded on the “majoritarian” principle, Article 64.2 requires that “the total number of deputies of a party or party coalition shall be, to the closest possible extent, proportional to the votes won by them on the national scale in the first round of elections”. Thus, the Electoral Code provides that 40 MPs “are elected according to the proportional percentage of the votes won by the multi-name lists”.7

In effect, the allocation of these mandates is linked to the number of majority seats won by a party or coalition in single mandate constituencies. For each party or coalition, if the number of majority seats won exceeds the total number of seats it would be entitled to according to proportional votes, such a party or coalition does not qualify for participation in the allocation of supplementary seats. For each party or coalition, if the number of majority seats won is less than the number of seats it would be entitled to according to proportional votes, such a party or coalition is eligible for participation in the allocation of supplemental seats. These are subsequently distributed so as to approximate the number of seats the respective party or coalition would be entitled to according to the proportional votes.8

The Electoral Code (Article 90) provides that voters are presented with two ballots: one for the majoritarian contest in the election zone in which they reside and a second for the national-level contest. Therefore, voters are permitted to make two separate electoral choices. This feature permits parties to develop strategies by forming informal election coalitions. However, such strategies can reduce the effectiveness of the election system in meeting the Constitutional objective to inject a degree of proportionality into the election system.


V. LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Electoral Code was adopted in June 2003 and amended in October 2004, January 2005 and April 2005. The legislation currently in force can provide an adequate basis for a democratic election. However, as noted on previous occasions, the extent to which the law will have a positive effect on the process ultimately will be determined by the degree of political commitment, first and foremost of State institutions and political parties, to hold democratic elections and uphold the law.9

The legal provisions established by the Electoral Code are supplemented by instructions issued by the CEC. However, in one instance, a CEC Instruction appears to omit one of the requirements of the Electoral Code, regarding the role of police in accompanying the electoral material to the counting centre after the close of the voting. The instruction only requires a police officer to provide an ‘escort,’ whereas Article 109/1 of the Electoral Code explicitly requires a police officer to be seated with the VCC members in the vehicle transporting the ballots. This has raised concern among some of OSCE/ODIHR EOM’s interlocutors that police officers may incorrectly believe that they have been relieved of the legal duty to be present in the transporting vehicle. There is still time for the CEC to clarify this issue, and avoid any possible misinterpretation.


VI. ELECTION ADMINISTRATION

A three-tiered election administration will administer the elections: the CEC, 100 ZECs and 4,762 Voting Centre Commissions (VCCs). For the first time in Albanian elections, votes will be counted in 100 Counting Centres, one in each zone.

The CEC is a permanent body composed of seven members with a seven-year mandate. Two members are appointed by the Assembly, two by the President of the Republic, and three by the High Council of Justice, with political parties exerting considerable influence over the nomination procedures. Under an agreement reached between the SP and the DP in October 2004, the ‘political balance’ of the CEC was altered such that the dominant position of the parliamentary majority (5 out of 7 members) be reduced, by surrendering one seat in favour of the opposition. By law, most decisions are taken by majority vote, but a qualified majority of five votes is needed for the certification of election results, the invalidation of elections, and for decisions on complaints against ZEC decisions regarding election results.

Each ZEC is composed of seven members, with parties from each side of the political spectrum proposing three members, while the seventh member is assigned either to the largest party in the ruling block (SP) or the largest opposition party (DP) on a parity basis, determined by “random selection” and “equal distribution”. Parties have the right to replace ZEC members at any time. This could lead to instability in the work of the election administration. Indeed, the CEC is approving the replacement of ZEC members on an almost daily basis. VCCs and Counting teams are appointed by ZECs according to the same formula as for appointments to ZECs. The late deadline for the appointment of counting teams (two hours before the close of the polls) raises concerns as it may lead to problems concerning the proper training of counting teams.

The CEC is holding sessions as frequently as twice per day. During the past months it has adopted numerous instructions and taken around 400 decisions, mostly on the formation of ZECs and party registration. Since 20 May, the OSCE/ODIHR EOM has attended all CEC sessions. In general, these have been conducted in a collegial atmosphere and discussions are transparent, but sessions were protracted, hence delaying the adoption of some important instructions and decisions. However, at this stage, this situation does not appear to have created major problems in the organization of the elections.

By law, all ZECs should have been appointed no later than 3 March 2005. However, since the boundaries of the redrawn electoral zones were not finalised until 3 March, the CEC extended this deadline until 16 May. Nevertheless, only 63 out of 100 ZECs were established by the revised legal deadline because several political parties, in particular the Democratic Party, failed to nominate members. Indeed, 49 ZECs did not hold their inaugural meeting on schedule. Consequently, several ZECs were unable to attend the first round of official training between 20 and 23 May.

Some LTOs attended several ZEC training sessions and for the most part reported them to be well organised and conducted professionally. Some ZECs are still not fully constituted, most have not received computing or communications equipment, and a few do not have premises. The delay in forming ZECs has yet to have a seriously detrimental effect on the process. However, it was reported that one SMI candidate in Shkodra region was unable to register because the ZEC was not operational. The deadline for candidate registration has yet to expire.


VII. VOTER REGISTRATION

Responsibility for the compilation and maintenance of voter lists has been transferred from the CEC to local government authorities, which also maintain civil registries. However, the law does not provide for the establishment of a central register of electors. The Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization assumed the responsibility to check the electronic versions of the preliminary voter lists sent by local government units for potential multiple entries and obvious misallocations. The Ministry should inform Mayors in the municipalities concerned.

In order to implement the new electoral legislation which provides for the creation of new voter lists, reform of the system of civil and voter registration procedures was required. The preliminary voter lists are based on civil registries, voter lists used in 2003 and a door to door verification process. All citizens were allocated a ten-digit numerical address, and new computerised voter lists were compiled by local authorities. This process was a major challenge, not only because of major population movements, a high degree of ‘informality’ in the planning of new buildings, possible reluctance of some citizens to register their new residences and the short timeframe in which the preliminary voter lists should have been compiled.

According to the law, voter lists were to be displayed for public scrutiny from 1st April (art.64/2 - transitory provisions) until 3 May (art.58.1). A large-scale public information campaign was conducted to inform voters of their rights and duties regarding voter registration. The Ministry of Local Government and Decentralisation ordered the deadline to be extended, first until 20 May and finally until 30 May, to increase the time available to voters to check their entries. The voter lists should be finalised by 8 June. After the closing of the registration period, eligible citizens that are omitted from a voter list may vote on Election Day if they apply for, and obtain, a decision from a district court, up to 24 hours before Election Day. On 17 May, the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization announced that some 202,000 duplicate records had been identified of which 70,000 had been resolved. On 31 May, the Ministry reported that it had cleared some 55% of the duplicates identified.

The OSCE/ODIHR observers have reported that voter lists remain a contentious issue among some of their interlocutors, e.g. in Durres, Vlore, Shkodra and Fier. While some of the concerns regard what are essentially administrative errors, such as the names of deceased persons yet to be removed from the lists, others involve family members split between two voting areas, omissions, misallocation of electors to polling stations, and a sizeable number of multiple entries. The OSCE/ODIHR EOM has already received information that a high number of voters have a numerical building identification ending in ‘999’ (hereafter ‘999 entries’), indicating that these citizens were not clearly linked by the verification teams to domiciles in which they were registered as resident.

In Vlore, significant differences were reported between the number of voters registered in 2003 and on the 2005 preliminary voter lists.10 Due to the inclusion of a sizeable number of ‘999 entries’ on voter lists in Vlore and Durres, some voting centres have well in excess of 1,000 voters registered - the maximum permitted by law. In Tirana, election zone 38, a dispute has emerged over the failure to register 1,400 students as voters in Tirana.

While municipal officials express confidence that the voter lists will be in order by Election Day, in many instances, parties in opposition to the ruling party at the local level assert that the lists are being politically manipulated. The inclusion of possibly inaccurate civil registration records in the voter lists may have contributed to the large number ‘999 entries’ and an apparent inflation in the number of voters registered compared to 2003.


VIII. CANDIDATE REGISTRATION

All major political forces are contesting the elections. A total of 57 parties are registered as electoral subjects with the CEC. The final number of parties, coalitions and candidates that will contest the election will be known only after 3 June 2005, the deadline to register party or coalition lists with the CEC and for candidates to register with the ZECs.

The SP and its allies in the ruling coalition have announced publicly that they would contest the elections separately. However, the SP informed the OSCE/ODIHR EOM that it did not exclude the possibility that agreements could be concluded at the local level. In addition, one of the parties in the ruling coalition indicated to the OSCE/ODIHR EOM that cooperation between the SP and allies in the ruling coalition was indispensable and will actually occur.

The DP has concluded agreements with eight political parties11 (hereafter partner parties), whereby it will allow candidates from the partner parties to run under the DP banner in 15 single-mandate constituencies. According to the agreement, the DP partner parties would encourage their supporters to support DP candidates in all single mandate contests in exchange for the DP’s support of their party lists. However at the time of this report no coalition agreement has been approved by the CEC. The SMI and the MND have declared publicly that the parties will contest the election as separate entities.


IX. MEDIA

The Electoral Code entitles parties to receive free airtime in the public media, the amount of which depends on the parties representation in Parliament. By law, the news broadcasts on both public and private radio and television stations should allocate coverage according to similar principles. With the exception of the public broadcaster RTSH, political parties and independent candidates are entitled to place paid political advertisements12, the volume of which also depends on the parties’ representation in Parliament. Clearly these provisions favour the larger parties.

The Electoral Code also entitles private broadcasters to air electoral debates (provided that they retain a balance among the political forces participating), prohibits the communication of political propaganda by journalists during news broadcasts, and obliges the CEC to establish and appoint a Media Monitoring Board (MMB) responsible for monitoring the compliance of the media with the relevant provisions of the Electoral Code. This board was established on 26 May. It should report to the CEC on a daily basis, with the CEC taking decisions or sanctions as necessary. Local level media monitors are appointed by the MMB to analyse the broadcasts of local broadcasters.

On 17 May, the OSCE/ODIHR EOM commenced the monitoring of three national TV channels for 6 hours per day (18:00–00:00 hrs), the prime time news of another TV station (Top Channel) and six daily newspapers.13 The OSCE/ODIHR EOM will conduct both qualitative and quantitative analysis, will identify campaign themes, and assess respect for legal provisions covering the campaign in the media.

Although the campaign is due to officially start on 3 June, it is already well underway with all media covering the parties’ presentation of their candidates and platforms in current affairs programs and talk shows. Preliminary monitoring results indicate that the media covered the activities of the main parties to the near exclusion of others. By and large the tone of the coverage in the electronic media was measured. The print media’s coverage was more antagonistic.


X. THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Campaign activities are highly visible throughout the country. Significantly, compared to previous elections, parties’ campaigns tend to focus more on their programmes and platforms. However, the SP campaign has highlighted the events of 1997 during which law and order broke down, and the DP has focussed its campaign on alleged corruption of the ruling block. LTOs have received allegations of vote buying and intimidation including pressure on employees, although these allegations are as yet unsubstantiated.

The Electoral Code provides for some public financing of the election campaign. The CEC has allocated Albanian Leke (ALL) 60 million (approximately EUR 480,000) for this purpose. Following a CEC decision of 5 May, half of the money provided for should have been distributed among all parties that received in excess of 2.5% of the vote in the 2001 election. In addition to public funds, electoral subjects can receive private donations of up to ALL 1 million (Euro 8,000) per donation. No later than 45 days after the elections, electoral subjects must submit financial reports to the CEC, justifying campaign expenses and listing donations received.


XI. ELECTION DISPUTES

The CEC has the primary authority to adjudicate complaints during the campaign. Although some election complaints can be filed at ZEC level, the majority of first instance cases will be lodged with the CEC. The CEC also has appellate jurisdiction to review a decision of a ZEC. The right to file a complaint or appeal is limited to an ‘electoral subject’, which is defined as a political party, coalition or candidate. The only exception to this rule allows an individual citizen to petition a district court for inclusion in the list of voters. Depending on the accuracy of final voter lists, this provision could be significant.

Judicial review of a CEC decision can be submitted by an electoral subject within five days of the decision to the Electoral College of the Court of Appeals of Tirana. The Electoral College, which consists of eight judges chosen by lottery from a pool of all appellate judges in Albania, decides cases in panels composed of five members also chosen by lottery. Article 174 of the Electoral Code provides that a decision of the Electoral College is final and cannot be appealed. However, the Constitutional Court does have jurisdiction over some issues related to “the election … of the deputies, as well as the verification of their election”.14 To date, the OSCE/ODIHR EOM is aware of only two election cases filed with the Electoral College concerning the 2005 parliamentary elections: One is an appeal of a CEC decision on the mechanism for replacing observers and the other involves the replacement of a ZEC member. Neither case has been decided.

The OSCE/ODIHR EOM has received ten complaints from four different political parties. Six of these concern issues related to voter lists, two charge that parties held campaign events before 3 June, one relates to media coverage and another relates to the proposed layout of counting centres. The complaints related to voter lists cannot be adequately evaluated at this time as the lists are still in the process of revision. The OSCE/ODIHR EOM will follow closely the handling of election disputes.


1 The SP was declared the winner in 73 single mandate zones. It did not receive any seat through the party list election.

2 The Social Democratic Party (4 seats), the Agrarian Party (3 Seats), the Human Rights Union Party (3 seats) and the Democratic Alliance Party (3 seats). These MPs were all elected through the party-list election.

3 The Union for Victory won 21 mandates in election zones and received 25 mandates through the party-list election.

4 The SMI split from the Socialist Party and retained the mandates of nine MPs elected as Socialist Party candidates in 2001 in single mandate election zones.

5 The MND is composed of two right-wing parties: the Renewed Democratic Party (RDP) and the Legality Movement Party (LMP) and one non-parliamentary party Conservative Party.

6 In previous parliamentary elections, candidates required over 50% of the valid vote to be elected. If none of the candidates were able to secure the required number of votes, the two top-scoring candidates participated in a run-off

7 The Electoral Code, Article 65

8 The precise formula for allocating supplementary mandates is set out in Article 67 of the Electoral Code.

9 The OSCE/ODIHR Needs Assessment Report, Warsaw (29 April 2005), pp 6-8, provides more details.

10 The numbers of voters registered for these two elections in zones 94 - 96 varies by between 13,000 and 20,000 per zone.

11 These parties are: the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Republican Party (RP), the Liberal Union Party (LUP), the Demo-Christian Party (DCP), the Movement for Human Rights and Freedoms (MHRF), the National Front (NF), the National Democratic Front (NDF), and the Democratic Union Party (DUP).

12 RTSH is prevented by law from producing or airing paid political advertisements.

13 TV stations monitored are as follows: TVSH, TV Arberia, TV Klan and Top Channel. The six newspapers monitored are as follows: Shekulli, Panorama, Korrieri, Gazeta Shqiptare, Tema and Koha Jone.

14 Constitution of Albania (Article 131).





Rapport fra OSCE's Missionschef [Rapportens noter er sat i kantede parenteser]

Report by the Head of OSCE Presence in Albania to the OSCE Permanent Council

2 June 2005


Introduction

During the past eight months since the last report of the OSCE Presence in Albania to the Permanent Council, Albania’s political scene and institutions have focussed on the preparation of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for 3 July 2005. The importance of these elections to meet OSCE commitments and international standards, both for the Albanian democracy and for the country’s external aspirations, has been widely emphasized by Albania’s international partners and acknowledged by the Albanian political representation.

Given the importance of the July 2005 elections, the Presence has been fully engaged in supporting the political and technical processes of electoral reform and electoral preparation. The Presence has facilitated the resolution of a number of political contentious issues, such as the composition of the Central Election Commission and the redrawing of electoral zones, while at the same time providing technical expertise to help improve the quality of the voter lists, the main problematic issue emerging from the 2003 local elections.

With the electoral campaign due to begin officially, a definite change in the style of the campaigns can already be noticed. Different from previous national elections, parties and candidates are outlining platforms and policy proposals that attempt to answer the quality-of-life concerns of the public. While the old-style accusatory rhetoric can still be heard, much of it has been displaced by debates over taxation policy or the size of government budgets on education and health. This progress reflects the developing voice of civil society and public interest groups, noted in previous reports. It also indicates a progress of Albanian politics, a token of departure from the starkly polarized system that has long characterized the country towards a system offering more substantive choices.

The evolution of the Albanian Assembly over the past four years into becoming a main forum for political exchange and debate illustrates these changes as well. The Presence’s project to support the modernization of the Assembly has contributed to some of this change. Most specifically, the adoption of new Rules of Procedure at the end of 2004, captures this development by making the Assembly more transparent and accountable.

The promotion of transparency in policy-making processes and accountability of decision-makers has become part of many of the Presence’s other initiatives and projects. In the area of legal and judicial reform, the Presence is supporting greater participation in the legislative process and more openness in the court system. In civil society development, the Presence is supporting civic activism in local policy-making processes through the network of Civil Society Development Centres. The technical assistance provided by the Presence on media-related legislation is also critical to promoting a free, independent and responsible media.

In pursuing property registration, the Presence is also acting to promote greater transparency to combat corruption by clarifying ownership rights. This is a fundamental step needed to encourage economic development and long-term land management planning. It is also a prerequisite for resolving restitution and compensation claims, an issue in which the Presence is also playing a role, and for completing the privatization process.

In the fields of combating trafficking in human beings and police assistance, the Presence has been working to assist the Albanian authorities in implementing the Integrated Border Management Strategy and the National Strategy on Trafficking in Human Beings. This is being done by strengthening the Albanian border police through training on how to handle migrants, asylum-seekers and victims of trafficking as well as providing necessary equipment to improve their operational capacity.

The Presence’s mandated activities in the fields of legislative and judicial reform, electoral reform, territorial administrative reform, parliamentary capacity-building, anti-trafficking and anti-corruption, media development, good governance and civil society development and police assistance are outlined in detail in this report. They are conducted in full co-operation with the Albanian authorities, with a view towards sustainability and government ownership, as well in close co-ordination with the Presence’s international partners. The Presence is one of the four members of the Donor Technical Secretariat, alongside the European Commission, World Bank and UNDP, which supports the main donor co-ordination architecture. With the support of this donor co-ordination body, the government has recently passed its long-awaited Integrated Planning System, a policy-making mechanism designed to streamline and harmonize government planning and to improve donors’ interaction with the government.

Overall, the Presence’s mandate of 2003 continued to provide for a sound basis for its work. The consultation and transparency with the host country further progressed as all the Presence’s principal project activities were proactively consulted with the Albanian government prior to their implementation.

Since last September, the Presence has operated slightly below its planned personnel strength of 120, mostly due to the vacancies which could not be filled partly because of the lack of qualified candidates, partly because of the provisional budget. The approved 2005 budget of the Presence represents a 3.2 % net decrease compared to the 2004 approved budget. In spite of that, the financial volume of the core-budget project activities has increased fivefold compared to 2004 (to approx. €260.000), thanks also to the savings made elsewhere in the Presence’s budget. The volume of project activities financed from extra-budgetary resources has further increased in 2005. Out of a total value for all planned XB projects of €3.8 million, €2.2 million has been received to date, some of which includes multi-year funding.


Legislative and judicial reform (including property reform)

Legal and Judicial Reform The judicial system is considered to be affected by the perceived high level of corruption, resulting in low public confidence in the judiciary and related institutions. As one of the principal tools in the fight against corruption is transparency and access to information, the Presence has pursued a multifaceted approach to promoting transparency within the judicial system and the law-making process.

In October 2003, the Presence initiated the Fair Trial Development Project similar to initiatives undertaken by other OSCE field missions in the region. Whereas several international actors in Albania are involved in capacity building within the justice system through training and logistical support, the Presence is the only actor assessing the justice system by closely observing trials and providing first-hand assessments of how they can be improved.

In February 2005, the Presence published the Fair Trial Development Project Interim Report, focusing mainly on trial settings and logistical problems hampering the justice system during the initial period of observation from October 2003–July 2004. The report received wide recognition within the judiciary, and subsequently, the High Council of Justice asked courts in February to consider its recommendations. Court officials have generally agreed with the findings and see an interest in implementing the recommendations. Given the concrete impact of the Interim Report, the Presence is continuing with its Fair Trial Development Project and expanding it to cover in the final report areas and issues not previously discussed.

In December 2004, the Presence was asked by the National Judicial Conference (NJC) and the High Court to work together in improving judicial ethics. Although judges in Albania are often well acquainted with substantive and procedural law governing the cases they hear, issues of judicial ethics have not yet been sufficiently addressed to allow judges to have deep knowledge in this area—a deficiency acknowledged to the Presence even by judges on the High Court and the Ethics Committee of the National Judicial Conference. Moreover, the current Albanian Code of Judicial Ethics lacks any enforcement mechanism, leaving unclear the consequences for violating the code. The Presence and the NJC Ethics Committee have worked together since to develop an action plan for improving judicial ethics.

Judicial reform in Albania eventually must also include wider publication of court decisions. At present, only unifying decisions of the High Court and decisions of the Constitutional Court are required to be published. The Presence has found widespread willingness by Albanian authorities and courts to improve this situation. A plan also has been developed for the Presence to increase publication with the co-operation of the High Council of Justice. For this project and for other judicial reform efforts, however, further funding in the form of extra-budgetary projects is required.

As regards the process of law-making itself, the Presence has worked to promote greater openness and transparency. Most legislative drafting is currently carried out in the ministries, particularly in the Ministry of Justice, prior to being approved by the Council of Ministers and sent to the Assembly for approval. There has been some improvement in the past year in the consultative processes prior to the adoption of legislation, notably since the creation of the Law Reform Commission, but it still occurs quite often that legislation is drafted very quickly and without involving interested parties or appropriate experts.

As a means of improving this situation, the Presence is co-operating with the Ministry of Justice to increase public participation in the drafting process. In January 2005, a group of ministry staff members undertook the first of a series of Presence organized study visits to explore the legislative processes in EU member states. At the request of the ministry, there will also be joint initiatives to begin building general public awareness of new legislation via newspaper announcements and television programmes. Additionally, Presence will be working with a number of NGOs to increase their capacities to provide comments on draft legislation as it is being prepared.

Property Reform The Presence helped to draft the Law on Restitution and Compensation of Property, approved after a year’s worth of work in July 2004, to meet a constitutional obligation that had expired in 2001. The Presence has been subsequently providing support for the implementation of this new law by offering technical and financial assistance to the State Committee for Restitution and Compensation of Property since October 2004. Full implementation of the law has been hindered by the fact that many deadlines set forth in the law have passed without the respective Albanian institutions taking the necessary steps to fulfil their obligations. Nevertheless, the main pieces of secondary legislation have now been drafted with Presence assistance and many of the local restitution and compensation commissions (which are to implement the process) are now functioning. One of the key on-going activities of the project is to monitor implementation of the restitution law in order to help ensure a fair and transparent process. The Assembly recently voted to extend the deadlines for the submission of claims by a year until 2006, meaning that compensation payouts to potential claimants will not begin until 2007.

A main area of concern related to the potential size of state obligations under the compensation scheme remains, however. As one of its last acts, the Assembly approved the proposed Methodology of Land Evaluation in April 2005, prepared by the State Committee on the Restitution and Compensation of Property. The methodology estimates the value of agricultural, urban, and tourist land, as well as of the buildings on such land, which is necessary to launch the physical compensation of property to former owners. Prior to the approval of this methodology, the Presence, together with the IMF, World Bank and European Commission, expressed their concern to the Assembly that an independent review of the proposed methodology has not been undertaken and that in its current form, the methodology would potentially produce considerable budgetary implications (possibly of the order of billions of euro) directly impacting the government’s ability to implement the country’s socio-economic development priorities for years to come.

In late 2004, during the drafting of the subsequent secondary legislation, it became apparent that a comprehensive and fair solution to restitution and compensation hinges on a clear database of property rights, and thus, the Presence concluded the new restitution law cannot be implemented properly in those areas where property registration is not complete. The database of information required to adjudicate claims is secured only through a process known as “First Registration”, which is the systematic surveying, mapping and registration of legal title to immovable property. The main urban areas and coastal zones remain unregistered—the very areas where the land market is most active and where economic development potential is the greatest. Therefore, immovable property registration in these areas is an urgent matter. The Presence and the government’s Immovable Property Registration System have together identified 60 cadastral zones as priority areas.

[According to information provided by the Immovable Property Registration System, there are a total of 3058 cadastral zones in Albania, of which 2402 are registered. In rural zones, 2377 out of 2920 zones are registered (82%); whereas only 25 out of 138 urban zones are registered (18%)]


In March 2005, Norway committed funding and USAID provided updated satellite imagery maps to the Presence to continue First Registration in the identified priority urban and coastal areas. First Registration activities are set to begin under the direction of the Presence in June 2005 and continue through 2007, at which time the government will be expected fully to take over the process. The government’s Immovable Property Registration System is currently unable to take full ownership of First Registration and carry it out at the necessary pace and scope due to its limited budget and human resources. Therefore, the Presence’s work also entails pursuing, at a policy level, a longer-term strategy of sustainability. The Presence is also working with its international partners, in particular the World Bank and European Commission, to ensure donor support for a comprehensive initiative that will address the overall land reform and land administration strategy for Albania, including completing First Registration. Until that time, the Presence is filling the gap by assisting in First Registration so that the momentum, methodology and knowledge base are not lost.

The issues of property rights and security of tenure have a distinct impact on the social, economic and political aspects of the country. For example, the lack of secure property rights hinders the economic development of the country, is the main source of civil court disputes and contributes to corruption. Property registration information is the basic data needed to support a wide variety of initiatives such as the resolution of the restitution and compensation issue, the on-going process of government decentralization, urban and regional planning, improvements to the country’s infrastructure, tourism development and natural resource management. Furthermore, continuing First Registration supports other Presence activities including the Municipal Support Project and the territorial administrative reform process.


Regional administrative reform

In September 2004, the Presence facilitated agreement between the government and the opposition paving the way for the establishment of a parliamentary ad hoc committee to oversee the issue of territorial administrative reform, beginning with reviewing the government-proposed bill governing the process of local government amalgamation. Given the overriding importance of the ongoing electoral reform at the time and the subsequent important role played by the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization in the preparation of the elections, no substantial progress was achieved by the committee.

It is understood that the issue will be revisited after the parliamentary elections so that a potential timeline for local government amalgamation can be established prior to the 2006 local elections. The Presence has been interacting with the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE), which is also providing assistance to the Albanian authorities on this issue, so that a joint initiative can be developed.


Electoral reform

Following an agreement reached on 1 July 2004 between the governing Socialist Party (SP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), the Presence established and chaired a Technical Expert Group (TEG) for drafting amendments to the Electoral Code in line with the joint recommendations made by the OSCE/ODIHR and the Council of Europe.

[OSCE/ODIHR and Council of Europe Venice Commissions, Joint Recommendations on the Electoral Law and the Electoral Administration in Albania, Opinion No. 273/2004 (Warsaw/Strasbourg: 2 November 2004)]


The group comprised both independent experts and experts nominated by political parties, and produced legislative drafts to be discussed and decided upon by a parliamentary ad hoc committee on electoral reform.

Lack of an agreement over the composition of the Central Election Commission (CEC) deadlocked the TEG as well as the ad hoc committee until an SP-DP agreement could be reached on 14 October. The agreement, facilitated by the Presence, stipulated that one member of the CEC would lose his seat and that the successor could be nominated by the largest opposition party, the DP. This agreement resolved one of the most controversial issues of past elections in Albania and also opened the way to the approval of the next steps of electoral reform, such as the legislative packages related to voter lists and to the start of the verification and registration of citizens.

Other important amendments drafted by the Presence-led TEG and adopted by the ad hoc committee on electoral reform were related to the composition of middle- and lower-level election commissions, which had been criticized in the past by ODIHR and Venice Commission for excessive dominance by the SP and the DP. The decision-making of such commissions was also modified to provide for their smooth functioning by removing qualified majority vote, which, although introduced in 2003 to boost confidence, proved to create deadlocks due to the politicization of commissioners. The qualified majority was maintained only at the CEC level and only for key decisions related to declaration of results and invalidation of elections.

A major novelty for the Albanian electoral process in 2005 will be the centralized vote count. In the past, poor infrastructure, insufficient training and over-politicization of commissioners had undermined the quality and efficiency of the count, which had been determined by a variety of Albanian experts to be the most problematic part of the whole process. According to the new legislative provisions, centralized counting will now be conducted at 100 counting centres under the authority of Zone Election Commissions (ZEC). This new provision will allow for a much more transparent procedure under full national and international observation, a factor particularly emphasized by the Albanian stakeholders. There are, however, several concerns regarding this process: the lack of experience and logistical difficulties, coupled with the late appointment of counters allowed by the law, constitute potential obstacles for a swift and correct counting procedure. The Presence has provided consultative assistance to ensure that the centralized vote count yields the expected value added and helps restore the confidence of the Albanian public in the accuracy and integrity of the electoral process.

Drawing upon advice by the Presence, other important changes were introduced to the procedures for administrative and judicial review of post election disputes. While significant changes were already made in the 2003 reform, the local elections of the same year showed the need to strengthen and improve such procedures in order to avoid to the maximum extent the abuse with the appeals system. This had led to the protracted, fragmented and uncertain nature of the 2001 parliamentary elections, as noted by ODIHR. The role of the CEC and the Electoral College, the judicial body tasked to review election appeals, in implementing the law will be crucial to the success of these regulations. A new set of rules for the funding of election process and political parties campaigns was also introduced. While the previous provisions stipulated embryonic regulations which could be easily abused, the new provisions introduced more comprehensive rules for funding, expenditure and disclosure of funding for election campaigning.

In December 2004, when the reformed Electoral Code seemed ready for adoption by the Assembly, the issue of electoral zone boundaries emerged as being crucial for the successful conclusion of the reform package. The hitherto delineation of zone boundaries often violated legal requirements, and the boundaries were widely considered to favour the incumbent majority. Because of this, the DP insisted that their approval of the Electoral Code was contingent on the redrafting of the zone boundaries.

Under the auspices of the Presence, another SP-DP protocol was brokered on 30 December, setting up another technical expert group, chaired by the Presence. While the group included only SP and DP nominated experts, other parties were invited to make their inputs into that work. This agreement opened the way for the Electoral Code to be approved by the Assembly in an extraordinary session held on 10 January 2005.

After lengthy, often acrimonious negotiations, a compromise agreement on the zone boundaries between SP and DP was eventually reached at the end of February. Although the new electoral zone map does not fully meet legal requirements in a limited number of zones, it still constitutes a significant improvement compared to the past electoral zones and provides grounds for a fairer competition. The Assembly approved the law on the new zones on 3 March, thus accomplishing the last task of the electoral reform before the forthcoming general elections.

In addition to facilitating the political process underpinning the reform of election legislation, the Presence has also provided further technical assistance to improve country’s voter registers and raise public awareness as to the importance of citizen registration and verification of their data. This has been made possible through a large extra-budgetary project funded by the European Commission (worth 800 000 euro).

Through this project, the Presence has assisted the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization in setting up 35 regional data input centres throughout the country as an additional resource for the mayors to prepare the voter registers. (The 72 computers were sent to Albania by OMiK.) On 25 April, the Presence handed over equipment for a centralized data facility to the ministry to improve the accuracy of the voter registers by providing a means of cross-checking for duplicate names and other errors among the individual lists prepared by the local governments. This equipment will also be crucial in the longer-term, when Albania will establish a centralized and fully computerized civil registry.

With the further help of OMiK, the Presence was able to arrange a loan of 100 computers to be distributed to each ZEC. Furthermore, election-related training has been provided by the Presence to the Albanian electoral bodies and the police, mostly in co-operation with other international organisations (CoE, EU). Through additional donor support, the Presence is involved in galvanizing local civil society organizations, such as Mjaft! and the Blind Association, to be involved in the electoral process to encourage voter participation and to assist special voter groups.

It is also necessary to note that the political agreements reached between the SP and DP in 2004 foresaw the continuation of the electoral reform in Spring 2005. After the deadline for establishing another ad hoc body in the Assembly to that effect expired, the protagonists were quickly able to agree on deferring further electoral reform for after the 2005 elections. The next reform may include departure from the majoritarian electoral system.

In mid-May, the Election Observation Mission of ODIHR, established upon the invitation by the Albanian Government, deployed and has started to monitor the process, as mandated.

As of today, the prerequisites for better elections have been put in place, also thanks to the support provided by the OSCE. However, there are still a number of problems which, when combined, still have the potential of preventing Albania from having elections that will fully meet international standards. Ultimately, the contestation of the election outcome by the losers is the biggest trap to be avoided. The responsibility is clearly with the Albanian political parties and their leaders.


Parliamentary capacity-building

The closure of the last session of the 16th Legislature on 20 May, to make way for the election campaign, is the right occasion to recognize the significant developments within the Albanian Assembly over the past four years. During this time the Presence has been implementing its extra-budgetary project on Modernising the Capacity of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania, funded by the Netherlands. While the legislature opened with an opposition boycott following the 2001 elections, the Assembly has progressively become the central forum for political exchange and debate since then. The adoption of the Assembly’s new Rules of Procedure in December 2004, has only emphasized the progress achieved towards strengthening the institutional capacity of the Assembly and making it a more transparent, operational and accountable body. The Presence supported the process of drafting the new rules by providing research materials and human resources, including consultants from the Finnish and European Parliaments.

The new rules provide for substantive improvements as regards parliamentary oversight, collaborative decision-making, budgetary autonomy, organizational development, and public transparency. The rules require changes to the structure and staffing of the parliamentary administration and strengthen its role in planning, budgeting, and administrative oversight. The increased transparency offered by the mandatory publication in a timely manner of transcripts of plenary sittings and minutes of committee meetings, will also help civil society groups and the media to hold the newly elected MPs accountable for their actions and decisions.

The framework of the Presence’s work with the Assembly has adapted to support the ongoing reforms and, for the first time, there has been a subtle shift of momentum to the Assembly itself, as the management adopts a more proactive approach to implementation and change.


Anti-trafficking and anti-corruption

For many years, the fight against trafficking in human beings has been high on the agenda of the Albanian government, international organizations working in Albania and local NGOs. Successful law enforcement operations have stopped irregular border crossing to Italy by speedboats, thereby reducing the number of foreign victims transiting Albania. In spite of this progress, the number of Albanian victims currently being exploited in Europe remains high, showing that Albania is still a source country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour. While remaining a transit country for trafficked people, though in reduced numbers, internal trafficking is becoming an increasing concern. As everywhere, the number of documented cases, which is of the order of hundreds, is believed to be but a fraction of the total.

The National Strategy to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings 2001–2004, drafted with Presence assistance back in 2001, was partially implemented through three annual national action plans. Pending tasks, such as the implementation of witness protection procedures, as well as new strategic approaches were incorporated into a second National Strategy for the period 2005–2007. Shortly after a country visit of the OSCE Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, this new strategy was approved in February 2005 alongside the first National Strategy and action plan focused on the prevention of child trafficking, protection and reintegration of child trafficking victims, prosecution of child traffickers, assisted voluntary return of victims and co-ordination of anti-child trafficking actors for the period of 2004–2006, which had been pending approval for over a year.

The Albanian government is currently drafting a co-operation agreement to establish a national referral mechanism for all human trafficking victims in need of assistance and protection. The present assistance offered for victims of sexual exploitation by governmental and non-governmental relevant service providers should be finally linked and institutionalized. The agreement should incorporate assistance for child victims, which is not yet sufficiently in place.

Through an EU CARDS-funded two-year project on Pre-screening of Asylum-seekers and Migrants, the Presence, in close co-operation with its partners UNHCR, IOM and the Directorate for Refugees at the Ministry of Public Order, is establishing an identification and referral system based on international human rights standards for foreign trafficking victims, asylum-seekers and other migrants in Albania. At this point, the entire Albanian border police (234 mid and high-ranking officers; 700 border guards) has been trained by the Presence and its project partners on the identification and referral procedures. The Presence has also deployed six national pre-screening officers attached to its field stations, who are in daily contact with the border and migration police to assist in cases and assist in the planned handover of responsibility of the system to the Albanian authorities. The first steps of the handover process were discussed during a national workshop in mid-May 2005. Within the framework of the project, a group of ten border police authorities are currently participating in a study tour organized by the Presence to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, France and the United Kingdom to exchange experience on border and migration issues with their counterparts.

While witness testimony is an important tool in the fight against anti-trafficking there is a growing realization that there are aspects of anti–trafficking activities which have strong policing components and that go beyond the human rights dimension. Instituting a culture of intelligence-led rather than testimony-led police operations are believed to result in improved anti-trafficking efforts. With this in mind, the Presence has been assisting, since March 2005, the development of the concept of a specialized gender-balanced anti-trafficking unit within the Albanian State Police to be responsible for interviewing the victims of trafficking and also investigating cases of rape, domestic violence and other sex-related crimes. An important aspect of information gathering through such a unit would be the reduced reliance on the testimony of victims in court. This approach is based on international anti-trafficking experience where the active involvement of police women at an operational level has been a powerful incentive to the victims of trafficking to come forward to the police. The project, to be implemented with the involvement of SPMU in Vienna and the Police Assistance Mission of the European Commission (PAMECA) is conceived as a multi-year effort.

Media development

In the field of media development, the Presence has focused its work on two basic aspects, in line with the mandate and the identified needs of the media sector in Albania: (1) capacity building of media institutions and harmonization of media legislation with European standards; (2) increase of ethical and professional standards of the Albanian media. The guiding principle is to offer high-quality expertise to the media and media institutions to bring about a change towards development of more professional, responsible and free media in Albania.

In pursuing this goal, the Presence has worked closely with the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Media and the National Council of Radio and Television (NCRT), the state regulatory body for broadcasting. In response to earlier requests made by the Prime Minister, the NCRT and the media committee, the Presence provided the respective institutions with a thorough review of the existing and the draft Albanian media legislation in October 2004.

[The reviews included comments and recommendations to the electronic media law, the statute of the Albanian Radio and Television, the defamation legislation, the law on access to information, the draft law on print media, and two sets of draft amendments to the electronic media law on digital broadcasting]


This assistance was made possible through the support of the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and done in co-operation with the Council of Europe. The legislation on print media and digital broadcasting were a main focus of the lawmakers and the public during this period. On both issues, the Presence was asked for assistance and contributed significantly to shaping the legislation.

Upon request by the parliamentary media committee, the Presence has provided input to the print media bill, which has been a long standing project of the Assembly. The committee saw this law as a means to address the many problems faced by the print media, which have resulted in their unreliability, low circulation and high degree of dependence on politics and business. The committee approved the bill in March 2005 after lengthy public debates focusing on only one article (Article 10) to establish minimal selling prices for all newspapers and selectively exclude some media companies from bidding for public tenders. The committee vote came after an intervention by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, who wrote to the Speaker of the Assembly that the methods outlined in the controversial article were not appropriate for a media law and that the debate should focus on other aspects of the bill “in order to have a law that would be in full compliance with international standards”. The draft has not been put to a final vote by the Assembly until its dissolution on 20 May 2005.

Following the joint OSCE/Council of Europe comments on the proposed amendments to the electronic media law related to digital broadcasting, submitted to the Assembly in October 2004, the parliamentary media committee created a working group in December 2004 to draft a bill on experimental digital broadcasting in Albania. Although the analogue spectrum in Albania is still highly unregulated, the need for such a law came after an operator started broadcasting in digital terrestrial mode in July 2004, without legal regulation. The working group, comprised of representatives of the committee, the NCRT, the Presence and the Council of Europe, rapidly prepared a draft law in December 2004, to allow for an orderly transition into digital broadcasting, respecting the principles of pluralism, diversity and transparency.

In April 2005, the media committee of the Assembly adopted a substantially altered draft which, however, would have created a de facto monopoly for the only current operator in the market and would have departed from the transitional, experimental nature of digital broadcasting in an initial period. That would have undercut the efforts of the national regulator to produce a strategy for a planned development of digital broadcasting in Albania. In May 2005, the Presence made the Assembly aware of the opinion on the draft law, endorsed jointly by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, the European Radiocommunications Office, the Delegation of the European Commission and the Office of the Council of Europe in Albania. In the penultimate sitting of the plenary on 19 May, the Assembly wisely rejected the controversial draft.

In assisting the journalistic community to increase their independence and professionalism, the Presence was able to implement the first phase of its project on Training local media on professional standards, and promoting transparency pertaining to access to information law thanks to a donation from the Dutch governmental organization Press Now. In-house training was conducted in several local TV stations in Kukës, Pogradec, Gjirokastra, Vlora, Shkodra, Lezha, Puka, Korça and Fier. The goal of the project is to raise professionalism of reporting of the media outside Tirana, help them focus on local issues and learn ways to localize the stories of national importance. The project is planned to be extended to all significant local media outlets around the country.


Good governance and civil society development

Civil society development The growing influence of civil society in Albania on the governmental decision-making process, as described in previous Presence reports, is continuing as more NGO and public interest groups are slowly beginning to take action on concrete issues. This has been particularly noticeable during the debate on the annual state budget at the end of 2004 and in the run up to the elections.

In this context, the Presence has directed its civil society development centres towards activities stimulating civil society interest in the local decision making process through discussing and disseminating information by developing a “visioning” process with their local communities. Comprehensive training sessions have been delivered not only to civil society groups, but to local government units as well, in order to improve and deepen co-operation on a local level. Over the past half year, CSDC activities have grown and services being offered have expanded.

Since the beginning of the project, the Presence has sought to ensure the long-term sustainability of the CSDCs. An important step towards this goal was taken in May 2005, when all CSDCs were finally registered as NGOs in accordance with Albanian legislation. This new status gives the centres certain rights and makes them implementing partners rather than dependencies of the Presence. A hand-over plan is envisaged to achieve full administrative independence of the centres by the end of this year. A roof organization, the National Network of CSDCs, will take over management of the centres from the Presence, which will monitor the process and gradually switch from a supervisory to an advisory role.

Gender As regards gender mainstreaming, although a gender equality law was passed in July 2004, the situation concerning gender equality has improved only incrementally. In order to address the underlying social and economic reasons for this, the Presence has worked closely with the Albanian Committee for Gender Equality by supporting its preparation of a 2005 work plan, including recommendations on its future structure, and the national report on the Beijing+10 process. The Presence also prepared comments for the working group of the Citizens Advocacy Group, which convened to draft a law on the fight against domestic violence. Furthermore, the Presence opened a Women’s Counselling Centre for victims of domestic violence in Kukës, northern Albania.

[Former National Committee for Equal Opportunities, name changed after the first meeting of the Inter-ministerial Council on Gender Equality on 4 May 2005]


Good governance Within its mandate, the Presence’s work has also focussed on the support for Albanian institutions involved in the fight against corruption. In this context, more than 120 inspectors from financial inspectorates were trained by the newly established High Inspectorate of Assets Declaration and Auditing, with substantial programmatic and technical support from the Presence.

As a follow up of previous Presence activities in the field of promoting transparency and good governance, a series of 10 meetings with students and business representatives was organized in co-operation with local universities of Albania during the period from December 2004 to January 2005 to discuss about business ethics. As a concrete result of the project, several of the concerned universities decided to include the subject of business ethics into heir curricula.

Building upon its previous work in the field anti-money laundering, the Presence has offered further assistance to the Bank of Albania, namely in reducing the dependence on cash transactions and identifying suspicious operations and awaits their response to develop follow-up support programmes to the national efforts.


Police assistance

With other large actors such as the US Department of Justice police assistance programme (ICITAP) and the Police Assistance Mission of the European Commission in Albania (PAMECA) providing support and technical expertise to the Albanian Ministry of Public Order, the Presence has focused on working with the Albanian border police, which has received much less direct international assistance. The Albanian border police cite a number of major obstacles in meeting their goals under the Integrated Border Management Strategy: poor logistical support, lack of second language communications skills and constant personnel rotation leading to the loss of institutional knowledge.

The role of the Presence, cited in previous reports, in facilitating cross-border cooperation with UNMiK/KFOR in Kosovo/Serbia and Montenegro, has been crucial in keeping the lines of communication open over the past several months amid various organizational changes and other events. A tangible result of this has been the relocation of Albanian border police at Qafa Morina border crossing point closer to the borderline, thus enhancing the border guards capacity to survey all surrounding routes to the border. The benefits of this closer cross-border co-operation have contributed to the staging of joint operations against smuggling in the Qafa Morina area.

The effectiveness of the border police, however, is affected by the lack of sufficient equipment and technology, a situation that the Presence has tried to remedy, albeit with modest resources. In April 2005, the Presence donated several 4X4 vehicles to the Special Operations Group in the Kukës Region to meet their short-term equipment needs and increase their mobility. The second phase of the donation of the Presence’s terrestrial UHF communications system, important for improving the border police’s response times in dealing with emergency situations and incidents, was completed in April. Phase three will be concluded at the end of the year.

Material support from extra-budgetary resources includes the provision of solar panels for police stations near the border which suffer from frequent power cuts so that they can maintain constant communication with regional and central police authorities and continue performing their duties such as computerized passport checks. The initial goal of the project sponsored by the Czech Republic and France is to provide continuous electricity supply to key departments in the Shkodra Police Directorate and key border posts in the region of Shkodra. It is envisaged that this initiative will be expanded along the border given that additional pledges of financial support have been received within the past month.

As the Albanian border police has recognized, the sustainability of increased cooperation across borders is also affected by limited second language communications skills. Earlier in year the Presence identified this deficiency as an area requiring concentrated training and developmental input. Three pilot locations along the border with Greece (Kapshtica, Kakavija and Saranda) were selected to undergo second language proficiency training with the assistance of the British Council. Implementation of this project will begin in early autumn.


Way ahead

The aftermath of 2005 elections, in terms of their conduct and outcome, will require the Presence to adjust its activities. The post-electoral internal political development of the country will hopefully prove the sustainability and efficiency of its democratic institutions and the country will continue to pursue its many aspirations, in particular further Euro-Atlantic integration.

Within a regional perspective, the issue of final status of Kosovo/Serbia Montenegro will be important also for Albania which has played a constructive role in the region. The anticipated regional events in 2006 arising out of the Kosovo status discussions should be borne in mind, in particular with respect to Presence’s work in the security dimension.

The Presence will continue its work in the main programmatic areas, restructuring them along the three OSCE dimensions with a focus on furthering key Albanian reforms by providing expertise and, if requested, facilitating the underpinning political processes. The Presence will mainstream good governance and public participation in decision-making processes and gender equality in its principal activities, including projects.

More specifically, activities under the politico-military dimension of the OSCE will include continued assistance to the police, as per the Presence mandate, in particular through training and integrated border management through more specialised projects.

In promoting good governance the Presence will work within a new programme established to better support the priorities: the host country’s property reform, including registration and restitution/compensation and the regional administrative reform and good governance in economic and environmental issues. The Presence’s work will refocus resources to better support the regional administrative reform expected to receive new impulse by 2005 elections. The initial work done to develop local government support projects in 2005 will result in wider implementation in 2006. In supporting the national authorities’ and civil society strategies in combating corruption and trafficking, the Presence will focus on key national actors and creating crossdimensional synergies. It will also continue promoting business ethics and small business development. Also raising environmental awareness and support to the national and regional environmental actors is envisioned.

Within the human dimension, the work will continue in further supporting electoral and parliamentary reform. With the prospect of local elections in late 2006, further support for electoral reform may be needed, if requested, as political agreements reached in 2005 already identified the importance of reviewing the entire Albanian electoral system (with potential constitutional consequences).

In the field of rule of law and human rights, judicial reform projects are aimed at combating corruption and increasing public confidence in the judicial system and improving human rights standards, especially in the areas of fair trial, juvenile justice, minority education, and workers’ rights. The Presence will continue developing and reviewing relevant legislation and providing assistance to support systemic and structural changes in a variety of institutions, including the courts, prosecutor’s offices and the People’s Advocate Office.

The Presence, having been active in providing assistance on legislation regarding the freedom of media, will continue to assist in furthering professionalism of the media sector and in promoting media ethics. Support for the civil society, namely through the network of Civil Society Development Centres will continue, with increased emphasis on Albanian ownership in view of completing the process begun in 2005 of making the centres self-sustainable.

Within the donor co-ordinating framework, the Presence co-operates will continue to co-operate closely with other international organisations and donors active in Albania and pro-actively evaluate the programmes of others to ensure complementarity and avoid overlap. The Presence will also continue to play a key role as one of the four members constituting the secretariat of the Donor Co-ordination Architecture (alongside the European Commission, World Bank and UNDP). In that context, the Presence will support the operationalization of the new Integrated Planning System (IPS) of the Government with a view to progressing towards the Albanian ownership of the donor co-ordination process.

The Presence’s project work will be mandate and demand-driven and based on full consultation with the respective host country authorities and transparency. The assumption of zero real growth underlies the Presence’s submitted Programme Outline 2006; the overall ratio between programmatic and operational costs in the core budget will be retained. The Presence is planning to maintain its current personnel strength and will re-adjust its field station structure to increasingly support implementation of nationwide projects.





3-1. Net, uden at være prangende. Resultatet var godt set med Danske øjne: En sejr på 3-1, - fremragende var det ikke, måske lovende?; fodbold til et pænt ni-tal.

Danskerne satte sig grundigt i respekt da den nye boxspiller Søren Larsen scorede inden der var gået 5 minutter. Ham skal vi nok blive glade for. Han var dygtig til at læse spillet og til at være på rette plads på rette tidspunkt.

Lange Søren - og Martin Jørgensen, der leverede adskillige gode indlæg, scorede senere hvert et mål; begge på hovedstød.

Morten Olsen havde lagt en god plan - for denne kamp og den næste - og sørgede for at den blev fulgt; det var givetvis grunden til at han trak Søren Larsen ned på jorden, »hold dig til hvad du kan« - og Thomas Gravesen ud i 2' halvleg. Gravesen havde spillet bedre end længe og begyndte at blomstre, men kunne have skaffet sig endnu et »kort« og dermed en karantæne i kampen mod Tyrken.

Der var mange gode Danske præstationer, og generelt var niveauet bedre end tidligere i år: Martin Jørgensen spillede rigtig godt, og det samme gjorde anfører Thomas Helveg - men trods den generelle overlegenhed, eller på grund af den?, leverede Danskerne flere gange nogle fæle blottelser. Bogdani scorede én af disse gange takket være overblik og stor ro - og bekræftede H.C. Hansen's gamle udsagn: "Der er draget omsorg for at træerne ikke vokser ind i himlen".





Henning Larsen's projekt ved Skanderbegpladsen [se omtalen i »Sidste Nyt« 243 og supplementerne på: 246 og 247]

Tårnet: Louis Becker fortæller at der er skrevet kontrakt med Edil-al-it. Henning Larsen's Tegnestue skal udarbejde et udvidet projektforslag i 1:100 på det 43.000 m2 store kompleks med hovedvægten på det ydre. Herefter bliver projektet overgivet til lokal/italiensk arkitekt, der projekterer færdigt. HLT skal godkende øvrige tegninger og vil jævnlig komme til stede på byggepladsen. Boligkompleks med butikker nederst, 500 meter fra Skanderbeg-pladsen: HLT har skal lave de overordnede tegninger for bygherren Pandi Carapuli [Pandeli Carapuli] og tegne videre på fase 1 på ca. 7500 m2. Begge projekter skal afleveres oktober-november 2005.


Vejprojekter. EBRD (Den Europæiske Udviklingsbank) skriver om et nyt lån på 35 mio € til Albanien:

2 June 2005. Paving the way for Albania’s economy. €35 million EBRD loan for key road project

The EBRD is supporting the rehabilitation and upgrading of a 70-km section of the road from Fier to Tepelene, part of Albania’s north-south axis, with a €35 million sovereign loan. The project is co-financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) with a loan of up to €50 million and supported by technical assistance grants from the EU and Canada.

The rapid increase of vehicle numbers in recent years and the growing integration of Albania into regional markets have made the modernisation and expansion of the road network imperative. Rehabilitation of the east-west axis from the Adriatic port of Durres to the Macedonian border, and completion of the north-south axis stretching from the border with Montenegro to the border with Greece are projects of national and international importance.

Riccardo Puliti, EBRD Director for Transport, said that upgrading Albania’s transport infrastructure is a key priority to facilitate trade and regional integration and will help ensure stable economic growth.

The project will also support improvements in road-sector financing and institutional strengthening which should lead to more transparent and efficient management of the sector. It aims to improve transport planning, increase commercialisation (by implementing a national transport plan and road-sector restructuring programme), and improve the funding of road maintenance and cost recovery from road users.

The project has been prepared in close cooperation with the EU, which has provided extensive preparation assistance through the CARDS programme, and the EIB. Additional technical assistance is also being provided by the EU to support institutional strengthening and supervision of works. Canada will provide funds to monitor the project’s implementation.

Press contact: Jazz Singh, London - Tel: +44 20 7338 7931; E-mail: singhja@ebrd.com


Trafficking. Den Amerikanske Ambassade i Tirana har offentliggjort flg.:

U.S. State Department Annual Report On Human Trafficking 2005

In his 2005 inaugural address, President Bush gave renewed voice to the hopes and dreams of people around the world who seek lives of freedom. He said, “America will not pretend that the jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.” Yet for millions of people entrapped each year in vicious schemes of labor and sex trafficking, freedom is denied. These trafficking victims are deprived of their most basic human rights and fall into modern-day slavery. President Bush, the Congress, and the American people are united in efforts to eradicate trafficking in persons internationally and within national borders because this global crime opposes the universal value of freedom.

This fifth annual Trafficking in Persons Report, along with the $96 million in anti-trafficking assistance our nation provided to foreign governments and non-government organizations last year, demonstrates our strong commitment to this cause. This year, we included more country analyses as a result of deeper research and a wider range of sources. We also expanded our coverage of labor slavery, especially internal labor trafficking. Forced labor and involuntary servitude are appallingly common, including whole villages working to pay off old debts passed down through generations.

The TIP Report serves to expose these despicable aspects of trafficking. It provokes, lauds, and challenges. Countries including the United States, which is dealing with its own trafficking problem, have been inspired to greater action against human trafficking as a result of this unique compendium. By reading it, we hope you are joining with us in the abolitionist movement of the 21st century to advance freedom for the world’s most vulnerable citizens.

Sincerely,

Condoleezza Rice

INTRODUCTION

The 2005 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report:

Its Purpose

The Department of State is required by law to submit a report each year to the U.S. Congress on foreign governments’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. This Report is the fifth annual TIP Report.

This Report is intended to raise global awareness and spur foreign governments to take effective actions to counter all forms of trafficking in persons - a form of modern day slavery. The Report has increasingly focused the efforts of a growing community

of nations to share information and to partner in new and important ways to fight human trafficking. A country that fails to take significant actions to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons receives a negative “Tier 3” assessment in this Report. Such an assessment could trigger the withholding of non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance from the United States to that country.

In assessing foreign governments’ efforts, the TIP Report highlights the “three P’s” - prosecution, protection, and prevention. But a victim-centered approach to trafficking requires us equally to address the “three R’s” - rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration.

The law that guides these efforts, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), makes clear from its first sentence that the purpose of combating human trafficking is to ensure just and effective punishment of traffickers, to protect their victims, and to prevent trafficking.

More than 140 years ago, the United States fought a devastating war to rid our country of slavery, and to prevent those who supported it from dividing the nation. Although the vast majority of nations succeeded in eliminating the state-sanctioned practice, a modern form of human slavery has emerged as a growing global threat to the lives and freedom of millions of men, women, and children. Today, slavery is rarely state-sponsored. Instead, human trafficking often involves organized crime groups who make huge sums of money at the expense of trafficking victims.

Every year we add to our knowledge of the trafficking phenomenon. In last year’s Report, we used U.S. Government data that disaggregated transnational trafficking in persons by age and gender for the first time. These data showed that, of the estimated 600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children trafficked across international borders each year, approximately 80 percent are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors. The data also illustrate that the majority of transnational victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation.

With a focus on transnational trafficking in persons, however, these data fail to include millions of victims around the world who are trafficked within their own national borders.

The alarming enslavement of people for purposes of labor exploitation, often in their own countries, is a form of human trafficking that can be hard to track from afar. It may not involve the same criminal organizations profiting from transnational trafficking for sexual exploitation; more often individuals are guilty of, for example, enslaving one domestic servant or hundreds of unpaid, forced workers at a factory.

A wide range of estimates exists on the scope and magnitude of modern-day slavery. The

International Labor Organization (ILO) - the United Nations (UN) agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues - estimates that there are 12.3 million people enslaved in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, sexual servitude, and involuntary servitude at any given time. The nationalities of these people are as diverse as the world’s cultures. Some leave developing countries, seeking to improve their lives through low-skilled jobs in more prosperous countries. Others fall victim to forced or bonded labor in their own countries. Some families give children to related or unrelated adults who promise education and opportunity - but deliver the children into slavery - for money.

Conventional approaches to dealing with forced or bonded labor usually focus on compliance, in line with international conventions (i.e., ILO Conventions 29, 39, and 182). These approaches seek to have exploitative industries comply with the law by simply releasing the victims or requiring compensation. Approaches to combating forced labor slavery that rely on labor standards can be weak in punishing the employers of forced or bonded laborers - the slave masters. Forced labor must be punished as a crime, through vigorous prosecutions. While most countries in the world have criminalized forced labor, they do little to prosecute offenders, in part due to lack of awareness of forced labor issues among law enforcement officials.

Over the next year, the Department of State intends to focus more attention on involuntary servitude and its related manifestations. This year, for the first time, several countries are placed on Tier 3 primarily as a result of their failure to address trafficking for forced labor.

Through the TVPA, this annual Report, strong leadership, enhanced government efforts, and increased attention from international organizations, NGOs, and the media, we are seeing a global effort building momentum to eliminate trafficking. Nations are increasingly working together to close trafficking routes, prosecute and convict traffickers, and protect and reintegrate trafficking victims. We hope this year’s Report inspires people to make even greater progress.

ALBANIA (TIER 2)

Albania is a source country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor, largely to Greece and Italy, where many victims are then further transited to the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. Albanian children, especially ethnic Roma and Egyptian, continue to be trafficked externally for forced begging. Regional and international experts consider Albania to have significantly decreased as a transit country for trafficking in Western Europe.

The Government of Albania does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government remained committed to monitoring and preventing trafficking at the country's main ports and produced successful interdictions. However, implementation of Albania's anti-trafficking tools remained inadequate and a critical area of concern. Greater, proactive steps in the areas of protection and reintegration are needed to ensure the safety of victims. The government must apply available laws and programs, in addition to improving prevention for vulnerable groups. Trafficking-related corruption must also be addressed.

Prosecution

In 2004, the Government of Albania continued to arrest, prosecute, and convict traffickers. Its courts prosecuted 132 traffickers and handed down 121 convictions. Commendably, over half of the sentences during the reporting period were over five years in length and 30 traffickers were sentenced to more than ten years, imprisonment. In September 2004, the government adopted legislation that includes broad civil asset forfeiture provisions, requiring the accused trafficker to prove the legitimacy of sources of wealth. Prosecutors, however, had yet to employ the forfeiture provisions. Serious resource constraints and corruption among government officials continued to hamper anti-trafficking efforts. The government continued to investigate police involvement in trafficking; in 2004, four police officers were investigated for offenses related to trafficking. The government did not prosecute or convict any officials for trafficking complicity during the reporting period.

Protection

The government provided some facilities and personnel to assist trafficking victims, and operates its own National Reception Center; NGOs have two additional shelters. The government has begun work on a national referral mechanism involving law enforcement, social services, and NGO partners to improve the initial identification, reception, protection, and reintegration procedures for returnee victims. Police slightly increased the number of ad hoc referrals made to shelters in Albania via IOM and NGOs. Police referred 274 victims to the Vatra Center, a leading NGO in Albania providing shelter and reintegration services to victims. Notably, a number of police directorates opened their own temporary shelters to accommodate trafficking victims. However, regulations necessary for the implementation of witness-protection measures adopted in 2003 have yet to be finalized. In 2004, the Government of Albania established a witness relocation program and adopted special witness protection provisions allowing for endangered witnesses in trafficking cases to testify via remote video link. The program remains unfunded.

Prevention

In 2004, the government conducted few prevention programs, and continued to reply primarily on NGOs and international organizations to carry out such activities. The Ministry of Education began to incorporate prevention activities into school curricula. In 2004, the government adopted a newly improved Strategic Framework and National Action Plan that outlines a comprehensive and targeted approach to trafficking. However, few aspects of the plan have been funded or initiated. In February 2005, the government also finalized its Child Trafficking Strategy and Action Plan.



SERBIEN og MONTENEGRO. SERBIEN (alene)


Det Amerikanske UM har Juli 2004 offentliggjort en 'Background Note' om Serbien - Montenegro: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5388.htm ... Det Engelske Udenrigsministeriums 'Country Advice' til rejsende kan findes på adressen: http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket%2FXcelerate%2FShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029390590&a=KCountryAdvice&aid=1013618386622 ... En biografi over tidligere Forbundspræsident Kostunica kan læses på Serbiske Politikere ... Mht ICTYs sag mod tidligere Præsident Milosevic, se (evt.) under ICTY ovenfor.


Præsidentvalg i Serbien. Boris Tadic blev i Juni 2004 valgt som Præsident. Seneste Parlamentsvalg: 031228.


Kosovo / Kosóva: UM i Serbien-Montenegro skriver:

DORIS PACK: CONDITIONAL INDEPENDENCE IS SOLUTION FOR KOSOVOBELGRADE, Jun 6 (Tanjug) - Conditional independence would be a solution for the Kosovo problem, Chairman of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with SEE Doris Pack said in a statement published by Blic on Monday.

She specified that under independence she implies inability to change Kosovo borders towards Serbia, Albania or Macedonia, the inability to create Greater Albania, but also inability to divide Kosovo territories. Pack assessed that the most important thing is to enable freedom of movement for all people and respect of minority rights in Kosovo. It is important to include high standards that exist in Europe in a United Nations Security Council resolution and to have a U.N. high representative stay in Kosovo, said Pack, stressing that it is necessary to set up, before fully transferring the authority to the Kosovo institutions, a respectable body that would pay attention to independence, which, in one sense or another, should be granted to Kosovo.


PM Kostunica har været i Italien og bl.a. talt om Kosovo. Den Serbiske Regering skriver:

KOSOVO PROBLEM SERIOUS TEST FOR EUROPEAN UNION

Belgrade, Rome, June 7, 2005 - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said today in the Italian Senate that the monitoring of implementation of all eight groups of standards in Kosovo-Metohija undoubtedly confirms that none of them can be given a positive assessment. He stressed that the province's problems today are not only the major challenge for the state policy of Serbia-Montenegro, but also a serious test for the common foreign and security policy of the European Union.

Address by Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica before the Senate of the Republic of Italy, Rome, June 7, 2005

It is an honour for me to address you as your glorious ancestors did: Patres et Conscripti. The Roman Senate, whose ancient tradition you worthily carry on, was the source of the eternal values of patriotism and rule of law. These values, which gave rise to our civilisation and sustained it, the values that it still depends on, are living today through the concept and practice of European integration.

The European Union is by all means the peak of the European integration processes, as a group of equal nations and states, each bringing in its own distinguished features and qualities, without stopping to develop national integrity and care about the future of its own. Having learnt from bad, even catastrophic experiences from the recent and distant past, the European nations have realised that they can ensure a safe future through a community based on the principles of freedom and rule of law. The united Europe has thus become the supreme guarantor of both the safety and economic prosperity of all European nations.

Italy’s contribution to these processes is enormous. Having co-founded the European Coal and Steel Community as the first European integration organisation in 1951, and signed the foundation treaties for another two in 1957 – the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community – Italy has played a vital role in developing and improving the integration processes ever since. This country was among the first member nations to support the promulgation of the European constitution by ratifying the Treaty Establishing the Constitution of Europe, making it clear that it was interested in the uppermost levels of European integration. After the latest developments, it is difficult to say what is going to happen with the European Constitution as a supreme legal document for the European Union, but at least it is clear that even if no progress is made in the near future, no retrograde steps will be made either. The European integration processes have always developed unevenly, held up by crises and delays. Remember “the empty chair crisis” in mid-sixties, or stagnation in the second half of the 1990s. As they failed to undermine the previous integration achievements, I am certain that the great idea of the Union will overcome the challenges arising from the decision by the majority of the French and Dutch people to reject the proposed European constitution.

My country, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, does not share the dilemma with the member states and citizens of the European Union because, simply, is hasn’t joined the European Union as yet. It goes without saying, however, that we are determined to join the European integration processes, with a view to full membership of the Union. To be more specific, this is not just an objective, but a living process that we are already involved in. In March this year, the European Commission decided to grant Serbia and Montenegro a positive assessment of the feasibility study for the state union, and the Council of Ministers verified the document, allowing for the talks on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement for Serbia and Montenegro to begin.

Serbia and Montenegro has taken the task very seriously, effectively and technically alike. Technically, we are just about ready. Government bodies passed all the documents in conformity with the European Partnership launched at the EU summit in Thessaloniki, in June 2003. We have already appointed negotiating, working and expert teams to work together with their partners from the European Commission on the SAA agreement. Effectively, economic, administrative and judicial reforms are well underway to facilitate the integration process. These reforms are entirely in the spirit of change that the democratic forces of Serbia promised to the citizens responsible for the decisive overthrow of October 5, 2000.

Distinguished Senators, I would rather not go into detail about the internal processes and systemic changes, which, like in any other country in transition, develop with many difficulties, but steadily and irreversibly. First and foremost, I would like to draw your attention to the specific problems of my country, those that other countries in transition did not encounter, or not in such dramatic proportions at least. These are the problems that may threaten very seriously the process of internal transition and the process of European integration alike.

The question is why this region is legging behind the broader Central and Eastern European community so much as to earn the reference Western Balkans and, as such, a special place in the European integration strategy. The answer is rather simple – because of state and political fragmentation caused by inter-ethnic conflicts and massive violations of elementary human and minority rights, which went hand in hand with war destruction, war and post-war crimes. It took a whole decade for the situation in the region to improve, and let it onto the path of European peacetime, development integration policy. Had Europe and the rest of the international community finally put an end to the destructive processes, we would still regret the ten lost years, but catching up with the regional transition efforts was the road we would have taken without a backward glance. This, however, is not yet our reality. Unfortunately, we are still witnessing separatist tendencies in this part of Europe, facilitated by violent and well-organised actions that, on the other hand, have paved the way to an amalgamation of political and commercial crimes. Kosovo and Metohija is now a hotbed of organised crime activity, but similar trends have emerged throughout the region.

No one has the right to turn a blind eye to the fact that six years after the U.N. civilian and military peacekeeping forces arrived in Kosovo and Metohija the fundamental goals of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 are yet to be fulfilled. The situation of ethnic minorities in Kosovo and Metohija is very difficult. The Serb national community has been exposed to permanent terror, persecution and human rights violations. Two-thirds of Kosovo Serbs were exiled to the rest of Serbia, and the remaining one-third of the population live below human standards. The true human rights situation in Kosovo is such that it is indeed difficult to describe it in terms of human rights, but rather as a struggle for mere survival. The property owned by Serbs who were driven out of Kosovo has been usurped, and pressure to sell their houses, apartments or any other property has become commonplace. Bearing this in mind, it is extremely unrealistic to expect them to return to their homes – there have been no serious plans to start a repatriation process which the survival of the remaining Serbs also depends on. More than 150 torched and devastated Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries all over Kosovo and Metohija, most of which have been highly regarded internationally as the priceless cultural heritage of the Medieval era, send a stark message from the Albanian majority to the Serb minority about its future in the province.

It is very important for me, ladies and gentlemen, to take yet another opportunity to emphasize that it was Italy that proved to be most sympathetic to the suffering of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. The generous donations it has provided to rebuild the destroyed monasteries and the brave Italian KFOR troops that protected the Serb shrines and cultural heritage made Italy a worthy leader in protecting the vulnerable and saving the cultural legacy of Serb origin and intent, the meaning and historic significance of which extended far beyond Serbia to embrace all Europe.

These unfortunate images from Kosovo and Metohija, distinguished Senators, provide for just a fairly accurate and fragmented illustration of problems my state is facing at this point. I have deliberately chosen the word “state” as a prelude to a brief account of the principal challenge Serbia has been struggling with for quite a while, which, in addition, has been closely linked with the European perspective of the Balkans.

Apart from uncertain globalisation trends, which progressively transfer sovereignty as the main feature of a modern state, the modern world does not know of a form of organised life firmer and safer than the state. It is exactly the European integration process, reflected in the birth of the European Communities and the European Union at a later date, that challenged statehood as the supreme contemporary form of organisation. The incontestable supranational character of the European Union has eliminated many competences that the member states masterfully disposed of. On the other hand, it is precisely this unique experience of inter-state integration that demonstrated in a very special way the functional and symbolic meaning of the state in the era of globalisation. The European Communities and the European Union effectively testify to the need and necessity to have a permanent and safe balance between their supranational and inter-state attributes. It is this balance that will guarantee the survival and success of European integration in the future.

With this in mind, we can list a large number of European integration actors. These are numerous European institutions, enterprises and business associations, different professional associations and public corporations, regions and local communities, and, finally, citizens with their authentic political subjectivity at the EU level. All these actors mirror the considerable internal diversity and even a kind of democratism within the European integration process. Yet, the states remain the vital and indispensable actors in the process. They define a framework for conduct and the rules of the game to govern this complex process and the advance of integration in general.

For Serbia and Montenegro, as a candidate country in the EU accession process, it is very important that the state is creating its fundamental subjectivity in the integration process by signing its first treaty with the European Union – the Stabilisation and Association Agreement in this case. Such a partner to the Union must be asserted as a state, both internally and in foreign-policy terms. This is the point at which Serbia faces serious problems. One is the danger of further state and political fragmentation of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and the other, even more difficult, the possibility of Kosovo and Metohija’s unilateral split from Serbia.

When it comes to the state union, Serbia is trying sincerely to maintain this state and make it truly viable. In Montenegro, the governing parties are inclined to separation from the state union. The Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro has specified procedure and conditions for the separation, and what remains to be done is for political actors in Montenegro to respect the mutually accepted rules. I must say that the European Union, clearly in favour of the state union, was twice a very successful mediator in finding the best solution for the common state to survive. Just like Serbia, the European Union is a strong advocate of the advancing European integration of the state union, instead of uncertain integration preceded by its disintegration. Montenegro’s electorate polarised over an independent Montenegro is all the more reason to accept this view. It is in our common interest that the referendum on the republic’s independence, if and when it happens, be held by the rules and procedure supported by the authority of the European Union. In that case, I am certain, the result of the referendum will be more than favourable for the state union to remain intact. I am also sure that Italy, as a friendly state, would rather see it preserved than split.

Compared to Montenegro, the situation in Kosovo and Metohija is completely different. An Albanian secession movement has been active in province for years. Truth to tell, it has always operated by fair means of foul, but in the last six years under the U.N. administration, it’s been trying to attain its ideals by open terror against the Kosovo Serb minority. What is most upsetting to us is the tacit acceptance of this ultimate goal and the violent methods to achieve it by representatives of the U.N. civilian mission. As if the purpose of the so-called humanitarian intervention in 1999 was to help the Albanian majority in the province to win independence for Kosovo and Metohija.

Yet, despite a series of bad actions, that is, failures to act by the international administration in implementing the fundamentals of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, we believe the Resolution has to be enforced to move onto the issue of the status of Kosovo and Metohija. What matters most to us is that the Resolution has clearly denoted the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Montenegro in Kosovo and Metohija, and that, in this respect, the document is in full conformity with the core international treaties such as the United Nations Charter and the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Helsinki, in 1975. We are not trying to avoid talks on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija, but we firmly believe that the talks should not be opened before the province fulfilled the standards accepted and set exactly by the United Nations. Furthermore, we insist that the standards be assessed objectively, so that we could find out if the Resolution 1244 has fulfilled its purpose in the first place. Having closely monitored the situation in the province, we can say with certainty that none of the eight groups of standards can get a positive assessment at this point. Accordingly, my firm belief is that the problems of Kosovo and Metohija are not just the principal challenge for the state politics of Serbia and Montenegro to address, but also a serious test for the common foreign and security policy of the European Union.

On its part, Serbia and Montenegro will do everything for the problem to be solved by a compromise that would foster a sustainable, comprehensive and durable outcome. We will also take into account not only international principles, but also the interests of the state and the Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija. We are ready to accept any atypical solution, as any successful solution for disloyal minorities in Europe has been atypical, that is, specific. The general formula for such a solution is expanded autonomy for Kosovo and Metohija, with reliable international guarantees. Consequently, we are adamantly opposed to any partition of Kosovo and Metohija, but for the same principled reasons, we are against any partition of Serbia, which would be a consequence of an independent Kosovo. We have been elaborating this framework legally and institutionally for quite a while now, and whenever the talks on the status of Kosovo and Metohija may begin, we will be ready and extremely constructive.

On its part, the European Union would have to be much more explicit when it comes to Kosovo and Metohija, and much more committed to its own principles and values. I refer not only to respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one state, Serbia and Montenegro, but also to preserving the multiethnicity of an ultimately European province. This is also a reference to an attitude to massive breaches of basic rights and freedoms. We are aware that to define the European Union’s foreign policy is a very delicate task, but we are facing a problem directly related to European security. It is hard to imagine the European Union and its members accepting ethnic cleansing as fait accompli, and even rewarding the ethnic majority that carried it out by recognising its independence. A genuine ethnic cleansing campaign has been carried out in Kosovo and Metohija over the past six years, and independence imposed on the remaining Serbs would be a signal for them to flee to central Serbia. An independent Kosovo would be tantamount to an ethnically homogenous Kosovo, so as not to say, an ethnically pure Kosovo. This would be not only a historic injustice, but also a bed omen for all Europe, the Balkans in particular, if something like that can happen at all. For us in Serbia and Montenegro, it would be a collapse of European values that we firmly believe in.

Based on what I have said, my message to you, distinguished members of the Senate, is very simple. Serbia is a strong believer in regional integration as a safe road to Europe, and clearly opposed to its disintegration. We want to focus on economic growth, overall stabilization of the situation at home and in the region, and all aspects of cooperation between the neighbouring states. In a word, we are looking into the future, not the past. We do not want to discuss state borders and new demarcation lines. But, we want you to understand that we are forced to protect our sovereignty and national integrity. It will turn out, I believe, that we are now standing in defence of the values that are Italian, European and global alike. Our actions are also based on the conviction that we can join Europe only as a respected state.

In the end, it is very important to me to express my belief that relations between our states have rarely been better than today. The new trend is in the spirit of very old ties, some dating back to the Middle Ages. The First-Crowned King of Medieval Serbia Stefan was married to the Venetian princess Anna Dandolo, who gave birth to his heir, King Uros the First of Serbia. Liberal thinker Giuseppe Manzini’s ideas shaped the Serbian political thought in the 19th century, while Garibaldi will be remembered forever for having sent his troops to support the Serb and Montenegrin freedom fighters out of the conviction that no nation can be free if others are not. It is on those old and noble fundamentals, ladies and gentlemen, that we are building today our friendship and a joint European future for our nations. Thank you.

-

INDEPENDENT KOSOVO-METOHIJA INCONCEIVABLE ON EU BORDERS

Belgrade/Rome, June 7, 2005 – In an interview for the Italian daily 24 Hours, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said that an independent Kosovo-Metohija is inconceivable on EU borders.

In the interview, published today in the Italian daily ahead of the Prime Minister’s talks with Italian officials, Kostunica said that independence for Kosovo-Metohija would be a dangerous precedent and explained that such a solution could encourage minorities in other European states to demand independence.

Kostunica reiterated that Belgrade is prepared to compromise with Pristina, noting that before any agreement on Kosovo-Metohija is reached, basic democratic standards, most of all the freedom of movement and safe return of displaced persons should be fulfilled, and Serbia-Montenegrin sovereignty and territorial integrity principles respected.

“In all democratic societies, regions can have different autonomy levels, but not independence. This principle functions in all democratic societies and I am certain that it will function in Serbia as well”, Kostunica pointed out.

According to him, it is absurd that Serbia should give up Kosovo-Metohija in order to join Europe, and the dilemma “Kosovo or Europe” is not realistic. “There is no state or nation willing to negotiate parts of their territory and Serbia holds such an agreement inconceivable”, Kostunica repeated.


Anklagemyndigheden ved ICTY har for kort tid siden afspillet videomateriale der synes at dokumentere at Soldater fra den Serbiske Skorpion-enhed likviderede Muslimer ved skud på nært hold. Videomaterialet er spillet i Serbisk TV og har fået de Serbiske Myndigheder til at anholde dé Soldater man kunne identificere og lokalisere. Nogle Serbere er blevet rystet over drabene. Beta skriver:

POLICE ARREST FOUR SUSPECTS IN SREBRENICA SHOOTINGBELGRADE, June 03 (Beta) - The Serbian Interior Ministry released a statement on June 3 saying that the police had arrested four former members of the Scorpions unit, suspected of committing war crimes against civilians in Srebrenica.

Police have arrested Slobodan Medic, 38, Pero Petrasevic, 35, Aleksandar Medic, 38, and Aleksandar Vuk, 32, for the suspected shooting of "six unidentified persons," the statement said, adding that police believed the victims were Muslims.

The authorities said they were searching for accomplices Milorad Momic, 41, Slobodan Pavlovic, 52, and Branislav Medic, 42.

Interior Minister Dragan Jocic said that the suspects were exScorpions and that the shooting took place in Trnovo. He said that the Interior Ministry had opened files on a large number of ex Scorpions and that the unit had a total of 136 members.

Footage showing soldiers shooting six Srebrenica Muslim prisoners was shown at the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and aired on Belgrade TV.



MONTENEGRO (alene)


Præsidentvalg 030511: Filip Vujanovic blev valgt. Seneste Parlamentsvalg 021020.





MAKEDONIEN

Det Engelske Udenrigsministeriums 'Country Advice' til rejsende kan findes på adressen: http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket%2FXcelerate%2FShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029390590&a=KCountryAdvice&aid=1013618386163 ... Det Amerikanske UM har Maj 2004 offentliggjort en 'Background Note' om Makedonien: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26759.htm

Der er omkring 25 % etniske Albanere i Makedonien. Folketælling afholdtes 021101-021105.


Præsidentvalg i Maj 2004: Branko Crvenkovski - hidtidig PM - blev valgt (efter Boris Trajkovski som omkom ved en flyulykke). Seneste Parlamentsvalg fandt sted 020915. Der kan henvises til flg. OSCE/ODIHR-oversigtsside: http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/field_activities/skopje2002/.

Folkeafstemningen 041107 om decentralisering (= imødekommelse af Makedonien-Albanske interesser): Folkeafstemningen "faldt". Stemmedeltagelsen var kun omkring 26 %. Hvis afstemningen skulle have kunnet udvirke en ændring af decentraliseringslovgivningen, skulle deltagelsen have været mindst 50%, og desuden skulle der have været flertal mod lovgivningen. Det var ventet at stemmedeltagelsen ville have været noget større, selv om både Regeringspartierne og den Albanske minoritet anbefalede at man blev hjemme. Man kan nu gå videre i overensstemmelse med Ohrid-aftalerne.






GRÆKENLAND

Seneste Parlamentsvalg 040307. Olympiade 13.-29. August (se Græsk side: http://www.athens2004.com/athens2004/ og Dansk side: http://www.dif.dk/index/ol-3/ol-ol2004.htm).

Samarbejde mellem Grækenland og Tyrkiet på Retsområdet. Kathimerini skriver:

Greece committed itself yesterday to helping Turkey fulfill one of the criteria it must meet before joining the EU — by agreeing to start training Turkish judges in European law before year’s end.

Justice Minister Anastassis Papaligouras and his Turkish counterpart Cemil Cisek signed an agreement in Athens yesterday by which Greek legal experts from the National College of Judges will pass on their knowledge of the implementation of EU law to Turkish justices. Cisek’s visit to Greece was the first by a Turkish justice minister in over 30 years, Papaligouras said.

“The Justice Ministry... is ready to supply Turkey with all the necessary knowledge and information... which will bring a friend and neighbor closer to the big, democratic European family,” said Papaligouras. The first training program will begin in November. Turkey is due to begin EU accession talks in October and Brussels has demanded that Ankara complete substantial reforms to its judicial system as part of the membership process.

The two ministers also agreed to have their departments work more closely in the future. The deal may help improve the image of the Greek judiciary, which has taken a battering recently in the wake of a trial-fixing scandal. Nine judges, three lawyers and a court clerk were charged last week with a range of criminal and misdemeanor offenses linked to the scandal.

Papaligouras said that Cisek also responded positively to a suggestion that Turkish prisoners serving time in Greek jails could be sent back to Turkey to see out their sentences. The government has been holding similar talks with Albania over prisoner transfers to relieve overcrowding. There are over 9,500 inmates serving time in Greek jails — which ostensibly have a maximum capacity of 5,000 prisoners — and some 42 percent of inmates are foreigners.

Cooperation between Ankara and the Greek Ombudsman has already begun, with the aim of setting up a Turkish version of the citizens’ rights body, Papaligouras added.



TYRKIET


UMs rejsevejledning: http://www.um.dk/da/menu/Borgerservice/FoerRejsen/Rejsevejledninger/RejsevejledningTyrkiet.htm.


Seneste Parlamentsvalg blev holdt 021103. Det blev i December 2004 aftalt (med EUs Regeringschefer)at der i Oktober 2005 skal indledes forhandlinger om optagelse af Tyrkiet i EU.


President George W. Bush welcomes Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to the Oval Office Wednesday, June 8, 2005. Turkey's democracy is an important example for the people in the broader Middle East, and I want to thank you for your leadership, said the President in his remarks during the two leaders' meeting with the press. White House photo by Eric Draper


PM Erdogan har været i USA og mødtes med Præsident Bush. Robert Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State har holdt et oplæg om forholdet mlm USA og Tyrkiet. Se under: USA.


Samarbejde mellem Grækenland og Tyrkiet på Retsområdet. Kathimerini skriver:

Greece committed itself yesterday to helping Turkey fulfill one of the criteria it must meet before joining the EU — by agreeing to start training Turkish judges in European law before year’s end.

Justice Minister Anastassis Papaligouras and his Turkish counterpart Cemil Cisek signed an agreement in Athens yesterday by which Greek legal experts from the National College of Judges will pass on their knowledge of the implementation of EU law to Turkish justices. Cisek’s visit to Greece was the first by a Turkish justice minister in over 30 years, Papaligouras said.

“The Justice Ministry... is ready to supply Turkey with all the necessary knowledge and information... which will bring a friend and neighbor closer to the big, democratic European family,” said Papaligouras. The first training program will begin in November. Turkey is due to begin EU accession talks in October and Brussels has demanded that Ankara complete substantial reforms to its judicial system as part of the membership process.

The two ministers also agreed to have their departments work more closely in the future. The deal may help improve the image of the Greek judiciary, which has taken a battering recently in the wake of a trial-fixing scandal. Nine judges, three lawyers and a court clerk were charged last week with a range of criminal and misdemeanor offenses linked to the scandal.

Papaligouras said that Cisek also responded positively to a suggestion that Turkish prisoners serving time in Greek jails could be sent back to Turkey to see out their sentences. The government has been holding similar talks with Albania over prisoner transfers to relieve overcrowding. There are over 9,500 inmates serving time in Greek jails — which ostensibly have a maximum capacity of 5,000 prisoners — and some 42 percent of inmates are foreigners.

Cooperation between Ankara and the Greek Ombudsman has already begun, with the aim of setting up a Turkish version of the citizens’ rights body, Papaligouras added.



LANDE UDEN FOR BALKAN OG ØSTLIGE MIDDELHAV. NATO-LANDE


ITALIEN


Mother Teresa. I anledning af saligkåringen ('beatificeringen') 031019 har Vatikantet etableret en internetside: http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20031019_index_madre-teresa_en.html


PM Kostunica har været i Italien og bl.a. talt om Kosovo. Se under: Serbien.


USA



Trafficking. Den Amerikanske Ambassade i Tirana har offentliggjort materiale om trafficking generelt (og i Albanien). Se under: Albanien.

President George W. Bush welcomes Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to the Oval Office Wednesday, June 8, 2005. Turkey's democracy is an important example for the people in the broader Middle East, and I want to thank you for your leadership, said the President in his remarks during the two leaders' meeting with the press. White House photo by Eric Draper


PM Erdogan har været i USA og mødtes med Præsident Bush. Bush sagde bl.a.:

We've had an extensive visit about a lot of issues. And the reason why is because Turkey and the United States has an important strategic relationship. I told the Prime Minister how grateful I was that he was a - - is a strong supporter of the broader Middle Eastern initiative. Turkey's democracy is an important example for the people in the broader Middle East, and I want to thank you for your leadership. Along these lines, I thanked the Prime Minister for Turkey's leadership role in Afghanistan. I was most impressed by his report from his trip to Afghanistan and his deep concern for the conditions of the people there and his desire to work with the United States and NATO countries to help improve the lives of the children, for example, in Afghanistan.

We discussed a lot of foreign policy and shared interests between our countries. And one of the most important foreign policy initiatives of my administration -- and I know the Prime Minister shares the same desire -- is to work with the Palestinians so they can have their own state, their own democracy, living side-by-side in peace with Israel.

And, finally, we discussed the domestic issues. We discussed our economies. And the Prime Minister reminded me that the -- in his judgment, Turkey is a good place for U.S. investment. I listened very carefully to what he had to say, but we spent -- all in all, it was a very rich and important discussion.


Robert Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State har holdt et oplæg om forholdet mlm USA og Tyrkiet.

Remarks at the American Turkish Council's Annual Meeting

Robert Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State

Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Washington, DC

June 7, 2005

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, thank you very much, Brent, for such a generous introduction and I want to start by saying I appreciate that such a high-level delegation of Turkish leaders from both the government and the private sector has come to Washington.

Secretary Rice and I have tried to start President Bush's second term by consulting with partners around the world, to listen and to learn, to hear their ideas and to share some of our perspective. And so the Secretary was very pleased that she had the opportunity to visit Turkey during her very first weeks in office. And obviously, shortly — actually in a few minutes — I think she's going to have a chance to meet Foreign Minister Gul, and of course the President will have a chance to Prime Minister Erdogan tomorrow.

So I thank all of you for the invitation to be with you, and particularly my good friend Brent Scowcroft, who suggested that I come join you today. And I know that Ambassador Edelman, a very accomplished colleague who has served both our countries here, as well as Ambassador Logoglu, also a fine representative of Turkey to the United States.

I know you have a very full schedule and time is a little tight, so I thought I'd just share some introductory thoughts and, if we have a chance to take a few questions, I'd be pleased to do so.

I think all of us start by recognizing that the past three years have involved a serious disappointment in the U.S.Turkish relationship, as well as frustrations and even some confusion, perhaps on both sides. But I hope we can look ahead. Even though I've only been at the State Department for a few months on this tour, I can certainly see that Turkey and the United States should have a sense of shared interests on a number of cutting-edge topics.

So this afternoon, what I thought I would do is just to touch on three.

First, this is a time of extraordinary change in terms of the broader Middle East. When I began at the State Department in February and surveyed the scene from Morocco to Afghanistan, I sensed movements that were in some ways similar to those I encountered when I entered the State Department with Secretary Baker, late in 1988. Mark Twain once said that history doesn't repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes.

Last October, for the first time in the 5,000-year history of the Afghan people, Afghanistan held a free presidential election with universal suffrage and in September they will elect their new parliament.

In January, the Palestinians had their presidential election. Also in January, over 8 million courageous Iraqis braved killing squads to elect a new government. Last month, the Kuwaiti national assembly granted full political rights to women. And as we have this meeting, Lebanon is in the process of elections to select a new legislature and, in doing so, regain its independence and set a new course and direction.

During my service, as Brent mentioned, the past four years as the U.S. Trade Representative, I saw a huge change in the region's approach to the global economy. When I attended the World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan two years ago, I met with members of an Arab business council and I saw that the outlook had totally changed from the time that I had been in government in President Bush 41's administration.

In the past, many of the business people from the region would have been focused, frankly, on trying to protect their own national markets and trying to resist change. But the group that I now had a chance to meet with two years ago, and I actually saw a few weeks ago again at the World Economic Forum in Jordan, had a whole different attitude. They saw the opportunities but also the competition and the realities and necessities of operating in a global marketplace.

As Brent mentioned, I had this experience with our free trade agenda. We inherited a free trade agreement with Jordan, which we passed through the Congress. We then negotiated one with Morocco, which we passed; Bahrain, which is awaiting action. And this has started a process of rapid change, frankly, beyond what even I had expected, and I tend to be an optimist on these things. Oman and the United Arab Emirates lined up and we started them at the beginning part of this year and, frankly, we're almost done with the Omanis and pretty well along with the UAE.

But perhaps the most striking change was one with Egypt, which obviously plays a very important role in the region. And the best way I can convey this is to relay one of my last experiences as U.S. Trade Representative in December of 2004. I came to Cairo, of a meeting of Egyptians, Israelis and the United States to launch something called the QIZ, the Qualified Industrial Zone project, which with a small amount of Israeli investment allows the goods produced in these zones to come into the United States duty free.

And what most struck after that meeting was the press report that I saw as I was leaving Cairo, where there were two demonstrations in Egypt: one was a small one, a couple hundred intellectuals that were protesting Egypt's relationship with Israel; and one much, much larger, which involved a large number of workers, that were complaining that there weren't enough QIZs for them to be able to participate in.

The President has asked that as part of this overall effort in the broader Middle East that I supervise across the government an effort to try to integrate our political and economic policies in the Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative, what we call the BMENA initiative. And in doing so, I work very closely with Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Liz Cheney, who is in charge of the day-to-day coordination and has a dotted line relationship to me.

Now, of course, as we do this, we recognize that each country has unique traditions and cultures and courses of reform. But at the same time, we associate with universal aspirations for liberty, bettering one's family, knowledge, self-government and a true security based on respect for the human rights of others.

Now, of course, if you look at this picture, it's rather striking that Ataturk was the first great modernizer a little bit less than a century ago. And Turkey is a country in the region that has shown a path of democracy in the Muslim world. It has pressed forward with economic and other reforms, especially as Turkey has focused on the process of accession to the European Union.

Yet — and I'll come back to this point — I would suggest that it's important for Turkey's reform orientation to look beyond the European Union to a global context. Now, one dimension of this overall challenge is to integrate modernity and democracy with Islam. I was struck by some comments that then Singapore Prime Minister, now Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong made in an event in New York, where he said, "There's a contest for the soul of Islam." And he made clear that the determination of this contest would, of course, be for the Muslim world.

But others — Singapore, the United States — can help. Well, as I think about this contest, I certainly recognize that Turkey will have a great influence on the course of this debate and it will have partners. For example, about four weeks ago, I was touring Southeast Asia and I had a chance to meet Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and we talked a little about Islam Hadhari, his effort to try to create a debate about Islam and civilization.

When I was at the World Economic Forum recently in Jordan, I had a chance a talk with King Abdullah of Jordan about his efforts of this. President Yudhoyono of Indonesia, again, we had a good conversation when I visited Jakarta and again recently in the United States. And I shared all this on a couple of trips that I've made to Iraq with the newly elected leaders of Iraq as well.

So I'm very pleased that as part of this larger process, that Turkey will co-chair a democracy assistance dialogue in concert with the G-8 countries. I'm particularly pleased that as part of its overall effort, Turkey will host a conference in Istanbul later this month on the role of women in society and politics.

So if you take this interest and step back and consider our mutual interests, both want to support others in moving towards political and economic reforms. I think we and others believe we can learn from Turkey's experience in its ongoing challenges. And the United States certainly wants to offer encouragement and help so that Turkey succeeds.

Second, a word on Iraq. As I have alluded to, I visited Iraq twice in this new post. And as I left — you know, sometimes when you pull back from your daily discussions and you just reflect on a general impression, as a helicopter was flying out I was left with a sense that this is a country of actual extraordinary wealth. The people that I met, many of whom represent a diaspora that is coming home, extremely educated, extremely thoughtful, there's a tremendous amount of talent in that country. As you fly over and you look at the buildings and the structures, you realize Iraq's potential in terms of its development, particularly compared to other developing countries, and even as you sort of look at the overall territory and have a sense of the agricultural potential of Iraq.

But you can also see the effects of a society in a country that has been pulverized by a cruel dictatorship over two decades. My sense is that the new Iraqi leadership — and I've had a chance to meet a number of officials and people, parliamentary ones in the governments, all the different groups — it's a very impressive group.

Now, building a democracy during the course of an insurgency is no easy task. And of course, as you read in regular daily reports, there are some very tough debates and some very shrewd maneuvering. But my sense, and I think this is a pretty important one, at least for me, is that the participants are not talking past each other. They're working very hard on some very important issues. Because I have been in other developing countries where I do feel as a democracy people are talking past one another and, and as you leave, you have a slightly unsettled sense. That's not the feeling I get in the course of Iraq.

Now, the key to building a new Iraq and to defeating the insurgency is to successfully integrate progress on three dimensions: one, political; second, economic and reconstruction; and the third, military. And it's interesting, I referred to my trip in Southeast Asia; when I was with Abdullah Badawi of Malaysia, I talked with him about the Malayan Emergency process, a very long insurgency. And again, (inaudible) shared this view that military means will not succeed alone in defeating an insurgency; the challenge is integrating the political, the economic and the military in a concerted effort.

Now, my work in Iraq has focused most on the political and economic reconstruction dimensions. And on the political side, at least it's my sense that as Iraqis take charge of their own future, they will be sucking the insurgency by sucking the oxygen away from the insurgency, whether that insurgency is drawn from jihadists or Baathist killers. That's why the progress on the election, the progress in building a representative government that is also inclusive, and now the effort to try to turn towards creating a constitutional commission, working towards the constitution, then the referendum and the new elections, are vital in terms of the overall strategy of building the country and defeating the insurgency.

And therefore, it's not surprising at all to me to see that the insurgents are very hard in trying to target and derail this process by trying to develop splits within the Iraqi community, trying to pit one group against another. But my sense is that you have more stronger and more numerous Iraqi forces that are serving an Iraqi government, this will also strengthen the ties with the Iraqi people. And we've seen this in terms of the information flow.

Now, on the economic and reconstruction side, I've been trying to target some of our energies on topics that I think are most critical for public support and building the country. Areas like electricity, clean water, agriculture, developing jobs through the private sector. But it's also clear to me that Iraqis will look to their neighbors for support. On my last visit to Iraq, it was a very coincidental, I was with Prime Minister Jafari just as he was leaving to go on his first foreign visit to Turkey, which was a sign, I think, of both his respect and his interest in cooperation.

So here, too, there's an area where Turkey and the United States, I believe, have shared interests because we will both benefit from a secure, democratic Iraq with a growing economy which can contribute positively to regional security. This Iraq will be a unitary state, probably with a measure of federalism, and it can be a partner for a modernizing Turkey in a modern — building a modern Muslim community.

Turkey, of course, is in a position to help build a good neighbor for the future by working with Iraq on issues like oil exports or electricity, expanding trade, especially we hope by opening a second border crossing. And I think in doing so, Turkey can also be a constructive leader in the region. For example, others in the neighborhood, for example Syria, are going to need to recognize that fostering danger with Iraq today is going to rebound to hurt Syria for the long term because Iraq is on the path up and it will remember those that worked with it and that are partners and those that tried to stop it.

Now, I recognize, of course, that Turkey and the United States had some very serious differences over Iraq, but Turkey wasn't the only country in that category and others are coming together now behind a sovereign, democratic Iraq. The European Union and the United States, I think a total of some 80 countries, will be supporting a conference later this month in Brussels to help give both political and overall economic support to a new democratic Iraq. When I was in Malaysia and Indonesia I found a very strong interest in the leaders of those countries of reaching out to this new Iraq. So I hope this is an area where Turkey and the United States can look ahead together.

Third, Turkey and the United States have had a long interest in the developments across the broader Eurasian region and I think we still do. Brent mentioned our work together in 1989 where events started a new course to unify the European space. Of course, that process of integration, with its inevitable twists and turns, is still going to find its way. There have been some positive developments recently, for example in Ukraine and Georgia. There have been difficulties in Russia and there have been challenges that will be ahead of us in the Balkans. Turkey's influence is very important as it extends through Central Asia. It played a very important role with NATO in Afghanistan.

Now, one of the twists of the integration process within Eurasia is the recent votes that we've seen in the European Union's constitution process. I think it's going to take some time for the Europeans to sort through this themselves and reflect on where they go from here and the implications. But you should know that the United States has long stood with Turkey in encouraging its accession and we've certainly recognized the relation of that to the overall reform process, internal as well as external, and we'll continue to stand with Turkey on this topic.

But at the same time, I'd suggest that it's important that our bilateral ties not be too constrained by the effort at EU accession and at times over the past few years I've sensed that they might have been. Now, the European Union is clearly important to Turkey's future, but so are the countries of the broader Middle East. And considering the world in which I've operated over the past four years, that of the international economy, it's important for Turkey to recognize that it will be operating in a global environment.

My own feeling is that as we look 5, 10, 15 years ahead and look towards the major sources of global growth, it will continue to be the United States and the developed world, Europe and Japan I think for demographics and other regions are of course going to remain important but they may not have the same role that they did 15 or 20 years ago. And increasingly, the challenge will be the role of China, of India, of Southeast Asia in this process.

So at least my suggestion is that as Turkey moves forward, obviously it wants to have good relations with Europe and the United States, but it needs to have a 360-degree perspective. Take, for example, our work together on the Bakku-Ceyhan pipeline to bring Caspian oil to international markets. This is something that many believed couldn't get done, but we made it happen. But one also needs to look beyond the natural resource industries. For example, you know, according to World Bank statistics in developing countries as well as developed, the service sector is now over 50 percent of a country's economy. In the United States it's about 66 percent of GDP, about 80 percent of our employment. When I look at Turkey's economy and look at the potential, I think Turkey could be a major service provider in the region in competition with others.

So my hope is that as Turkey looks to its own future that the connections that it has with Europe, which are very important, need to be complemented by a global perspective, and that's where I think the partnership with the United States becomes particularly valuable because I've seen in my various tours in the U.S. Government, certainly saw it over the past four years, that the United States is still a unique country in terms of its global reach around the world and the insights and the relationships one builds, I hope, can be relevant to our partners as well.

It's certainly going to be the case in the area of security, where I think Turkey and the United States also need to look beyond to the broader Middle East, Central Asia, perhaps even to problems like I was dealing with just last weekend, where we've had terrible tragedies in Sudan and Darfur and where we're trying to bring together different aspects of the international community. Well, maybe this is another area where we can cooperate.

So as I step back from these three examples, I hope I've at least given you my sense that Turkey and the United States should have a very full agenda on political, economic and security topics. In most of the cases, at least as I survey them, we have pretty much shared interests. Now, of course, we're going to bring different histories, different perspectives and concerns, and as two democracies we each have domestic political challenges that we have to manage as well. But in my view, these are regions that we should discuss together, not retreat from one another.

So I want to thank all of you for coming and for encouraging those discussions. Thank you.

(Applause.)

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: I have a 2:30 appointment back at the State Department but I've got five minutes if we want to have a couple questions. It's up to you.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, the issue of the —

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Could you give your name and —

QUESTION: (Inaudible.) Is the issue of qualified industrial zones dead with Turkey or can that be resurrected? Thank you.

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Sure. What my recollection — and you spoke very loudly, thank you, but the question was the role of the qualified industrial zones with Turkey and is it dead or whether it could be resurrected.

In President Bush's first term, we suggested this as an approach to try to help with Turkey's development and at least the sense that I got was there was not as strong of interest on the Turkish side. Now, what we said in doing that

— and this, frankly, reflects, the sensitivities that we need to deal with on some of the trade issues — was that we would include all the products other than textiles and apparel. And if you look at the exporter profile, obviously Turkey does a lot in textile and apparel.

But I'll tell you why I was a little disappointed that Turkey didn't pick up on this. If you look at the end of the textile quotas around the world, it's going to be a very competitive market, and what I've tried to urge a number of developing countries to focus on is areas beyond textile and apparel where they can become part of a global sourcing network. And I think this will become increasingly important for Turkey.

So at least from my perspective, the item remains an open one, but I now have to defer on some of these elements since we do have a new Trade Representative. But in a sense, if we could just connect this to what I was trying to say, in looking at Turkey's economic development, look at what a QIZ would give you. It would basically give you a free trade zone for a whole series of products to connect into the United States and in terms of whether information technology or componentry of different parts of manufacturing, and my sense is that would be an advantage to have in one's development.

Another question? I don't see any, but if anybody speaks up.

Well, I want to thank all of you again. I know that as I took a look at the list of attendees, it's a very impressive group and I appreciate you taking the time to come to Washington and engage in this. So want to thank you and thanks, Brent, for inviting me.



ENGLAND




TYSKLAND




FRANKRIG




DANMARK (NORGE, SVERIGE)





3-1. Net, uden at være prangende. Resultatet var godt set med Danske øjne: En sejr på 3-1, - fremragende var det ikke, måske lovende?; fodbold til et pænt ni-tal.

Danskerne satte sig grundigt i respekt da den nye boxspiller Søren Larsen scorede inden der var gået 5 minutter. Ham skal vi nok blive glade for. Han var dygtig til at læse spillet og til at være på rette plads på rette tidspunkt.

Lange Søren - og Martin Jørgensen, der leverede adskillige gode indlæg, scorede senere hvert et mål; begge på hovedstød.

Morten Olsen havde lagt en god plan - for denne kamp og den næste - og sørgede for at den blev fulgt; det var givetvis grunden til at han trak Søren Larsen ned på jorden, »hold dig til hvad du kan« - og Thomas Gravesen ud i 2' halvleg. Gravesen havde spillet bedre end længe og begyndte at blomstre, men kunne have skaffet sig endnu et »kort« og dermed en karantæne i kampen mod Tyrken.

Der var mange gode Danske præstationer, og generelt var niveauet bedre end tidligere i år: Martin Jørgensen spillede rigtig godt, og det samme gjorde anfører Thomas Helveg - men trods den generelle overlegenhed, eller på grund af den?, leverede Danskerne flere gange nogle fæle blottelser. Bogdani scorede én af disse gange takket være overblik og stor ro - og bekræftede H.C. Hansen's gamle udsagn: "Der er draget omsorg for at træerne ikke vokser ind i himlen".





Henning Larsen's projekt ved Skanderbegpladsen [se omtalen i »Sidste Nyt« 243 og supplementerne på: 246 og 247]

Tårnet: Louis Becker fortæller at der er skrevet kontrakt med Edil-al-it. Henning Larsen's Tegnestue skal udarbejde et udvidet projektforslag i 1:100 på det 43.000 m2 store kompleks med hovedvægten på det ydre. Herefter bliver projektet overgivet til lokal/italiensk arkitekt, der projekterer færdigt. HLT skal godkende øvrige tegninger og vil jævnlig komme til stede på byggepladsen. Boligkompleks med butikker nederst, 500 meter fra Skanderbeg-pladsen: HLT har skal lave de overordnede tegninger for bygherren Pandi Carapuli [Pandeli Carapuli] og tegne videre på fase 1 på ca. 7500 m2. Begge projekter skal afleveres oktober-november 2005.


Flygtning fra Albanien? I sidste uge skrev jeg:

Danmarks Radio's Ungdomsredaktion har i ugens løb bragt en 'radiofeature' på ca 45 min af Ulla Ringgård om en Flygtning fra Albanien der kom til Danmark i 1999 sammen med sin Kone. Flygtningen havde været politisk aktiv i Albanien og var blevet torteret, hvorefter han var flygtet. Flygtningen havde fået afslag på sin ansøgning om opholdstilladelse, den Danske Advokat mente ikke at kunne gøre mere, mens en ung Dansker havde taget sig af Parret og skjult dem. Manden havde fået et alvorligt psykisk sammenbrud - herefter havde de Danske Myndigheder bevilget opholdstilladelse af humanitære grunde. Foreløbig kommentar: Historien er mærkelig (kommer Flygtningen virkelig fra Albanien og ikke fra Kosóva eller Makedonien?); jeg har sendt en mail til Ulla Ringgård for at få lidt information. Når jeg hører fra hende, vender jeg tilbage.


Ulla Ringgård oplyser at den pgl. Flygtning faktisk kom fra Albanien, hvor han blev pågrebet og torteret omkring 1997. Flygtningen skjulte sig i Albanien fra 1997/98 og kom til Danmark med sin Kone i 1999.

Kommentar: I 1996/97 var der stor uro i Albanien, umiddelbart udløst af omfattende kollaps i en række pyramideforetagender. Militærets våbenlagre blev plyndret og der udbrød oprør mod det daværende regime, hvad der førte til at NATO intervenerede og at Præsident Berisha måtte gå af. Senere blev der valgt nyt Parlament, ny Præsident og ny Regering (under ledelse af Fatos Nano, fra Efteråret 1998 af Pandeli Majko).

Det ser ikke ud til at den konkrete sag giver grundlag for berettiget kritik af de nuværende Albanske Myndigheder og heller ikke af de Danske Myndigheder. Den lægelige diagnose på psykisk sammenbrud har givet grundlag for at bevilge opholdstilladelse af humanitære grunde; havde en sådan diagnose ikke foreligget, ville Myndighederne næppe have haft lovhjemmel til at bevilge ophold.


Ugerapport fra Dansk KFOR. Hærens Operative Kommando - se under: Kosova.


TV2 har vist »Behind Enemy Lines« (2002) instrueret af John Moore med Owen Wilson og Gene Hackman. Et Amerikansk Rekognosceringsfly skydes ned over Bosnien af Bosnisk-Serbiske Styrker, mens det filmede en massegrav. Efter at være sprunget ud blev Piloten dræbt på klos hold; Navigatøren (Wilson) lykkedes med at flygte. Hans Chef, Admiral Reigart, ønskede at undsætte ham, men blev forhindret af NATO's Militære Ledelse. Adm. Reigart satte sig imidlertid ud over de givne ordrer og undsatte Navigatøren - der i sidste øjeblik fik bevismaterialet med sig. Mange af de Bosniske Serbere blev udslettet under undsætningsmanøvren. Info om filmen kan bl.a. findes på: http://www.behindenemylinesmovie.com/. Trailer.





Kommentar: Filmen er en actionfilm der dog er lidt mere interessant end de fleste, fordi den er dét tættere på virkeligheden; men i det store og hele er det en sort/hvid-film. Amerikanerne er helte, de Bosniske Serbere skurke - og tilskuerne får kun tomme kalorier og absolut ikke noget at arbejde med eller spekulere over. Gengivelsen af de politiske og militære modsætninger på Balkan er ren staffage.

Mærkeligt nok har Anklagemyndigheden ved ICTY for kort tid siden afspillet videomateriale der synes at dokumentere at Soldater fra den Serbiske Skorpion-enhed likviderede Muslimer ved skud på nært hold. Videomaterialet er spillet i Serbisk TV og har fået de Serbiske Myndigheder til at anholde dé Soldater man kunne identificere og lokalisere. Nogle Serbere er blevet rystet over drabene.


LANDE UDEN FOR BALKAN OG ØSTLIGE MIDDELHAV. IKKE NATO-LANDE


RUSLAND

UMs Rejsevejledning: http://www.um.dk/da/menu/Borgerservice/FoerRejsen/Rejsevejledninger/RejsevejledningRusland.htm




KINA





Fodbold: FIFA meddeler med. Maj at Albanien ligger som nr. 93 med 499 points [forrige nr.: 89]. Andre lande: Makedonien nr. 96 [96], Serbien Montenegro nr. 46 [47], Grækenland nr. 12 [12], Italien nr. 10 [10], Tyrkiet nr. 14 [14], USA nr. 10 som Italien [10], Frankrig nr. 4 [4], Spanien nr. 8 [7], Tyskland nr. 19 [20], England nr. 6 [6]. Danmark nr. 19 [18], Norge nr. 36 [36] og Sverige nr. 13 [13]. - Brasilien ligger som nr. 1 [1].


Kvalifikationskampe til VM-slutrunde 2006 i Tyskland. Danmark skal møde Albanien, Georgien, Grækenland, Kasakhstan, Tyrkiet og Ukraine.



Du må citere hvis du angiver hovedsidens adresse: bjoerna.dk ... Siderne om Albanerne: bjoerna.dk/albanerne.htm ... Søgning på internettet: bjoerna.dk/soegning.htm